Peter Pan: A Different Wendy
by fallingshort08
Summary: Marie and her brother and sister are the children of Wendy. When they are taken to Never Land, they get a chance to have their own adventures. (rated pg-13 for some violence and maybe for things that will happen later...)
1. Chapter One

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter One**

"The story of Peter Pan is a tale about a boy who decided he never wanted to grow up. So he snuck out of his crib late one night and escaped from his home. He lived for a few years in a park near where his parents lived, but he grew older, and his parents had other children and moved away.

"One starry night, when Peter was almost fifteen years old, he saw a firefly flutter past him. It stopped to rest on his shoulder and he saw that it wasn't a firefly at all, but a tiny lady wearing a leaf-stitched dress. She had pale blonde hair and silver eyes, and her skin was nearly transparent, and sparkled and glowed from an inner light Peter couldn't locate. She looked up into his bright green eyes and flew off his shoulder, circling him a few times, inspecting his shaggy blonde hair, lightly freckled nose, and dirty fingernails. She then decided he passed her test, so she flew above his head, he looked up and cocked his head, she flapped her little wings so shimmering dust sprinkled over him.

"Then she landed again on his shoulder and twittered in his ear, 'My name is Tinkerbelle, and I am a faerie from Neverland. Come there with me, and be the leader of all Lost Boys.'

"Peter looked at her confused, 'I'm Peter,' he managed. 'I don't understand what you mean.'

"'Run away for good, Peter, run away to Neverland, where they can't find you and take you away. Where no one can make you do anything you don't want to.' Tinkerbelle explained. 'Where you'll never grow old and become a man, you can have fun and go on adventures forever!'

"'Forever?' Peter questioned.

"'Forever.' Tinkerbelle confirmed, bobbing her little head up and down so dust dripped to the ground and disappeared.

"'But what is a Lost Boy and how could I be their leader?' Peter wondered.

"Tinkerbelle hovered in front of his face and looked into his sparkling eyes, 'A Lost Boy is a boy just like you, a boy who doesn't want to grow up and be ordinary, a boy who wants to have adventures and be a child forever, a boy who doesn't have a family anymore. You can find them and bring them back to Neverland. They will be your companions.'

"Peter frowned for a minute, and then grinned widely, 'Okay, I'll come to Neverland with you. And tomorrow we'll look for some Lost Boys.'

"'It isn't going to happen just like that.' Tinkerbelle snapped her finger. 'We have to do this the right way.'

"'What right way?'

"'Well…' Tinkerbelle scratched her head, her eyes lit up, 'We have to make sure they're real Lost Boys, and not just a lost boy. We'll watch a child for six weeks, and if they aren't claimed by then, we'll take them back to Neverland with us.'

"'But why six weeks?' Peter asked.

"'Because, now are you with me, or what?' Tinkerbelle put her hands on her hips. Peter nodded. 'You're going to be my partner, Peter. Wait, before we seal the deal here, we need to make up a good name for you, just Peter isn't enough. Do you have a last name?'

"'Not that I remember.'

"'Then I'll make one up…..Peter….Peter….Peter Pan! That's it! Are you going to be my partner, Peter Pan?' Tinkerbelle smiled.

"'Yes.' Peter nodded his head enthusiastically.

"'Let's shake on it.' Tinkerbelle said, holding out her tiny hand. Peter held out his pinky for her to shake and the deal was done.

"'Now how do we get to Neverland?' Peter looked around.

"'No silly, it's not here!' the faerie laughed. 'It's the second star to the right and straight on 'til morning!' Tinkerbelle flew up into the air and started to go away.

"'Wait a minute, Tinkerbelle! How am I to get there? I can't fly or anything.' Peter shouted.

"'You can now, all you need to do is think happy thoughts, and a sprinkle of faerie dust, but I already gave you some. Now think a happy thought, and let's go!' Tinkerbelle said impatiently.

"'Think a happy thought. Think a happy thought.' Peter mumbled, 'Having my very own adventures. Not having to listen to anyone. Never growing up!' Peter thought hard, eyes squeezed shut. A minute later Peter sighed, 'Oh, it's no use, Tinkerbelle, I can't do it.' Peter looked down and gasped. He was flying!

"'Come on and catch me, Peter Pan!' Tinkerbelle shrieked as he dove for her, and she led the way to Neverland.

"And that's how Peter met Tinkerbelle, and became Peter Pan of Neverland."

"Tell another one, please, Marie?" A little girl with dark brown curls, just like her elder sisters, begged. Her puppy dog brown eyes wide.

"Yes, do tell just one more." A boy, older than the little girl, but younger than Marie, with messy light brown hair and hazel eyes agreed.

"Oh, Violet, it's past your bed time, you know that. And you shouldn't be encouraging her, Ethan." Marie, with her long dark brown curls, and golden brown eyes and loving face, chided her younger siblings.

"Please, Marie, please!" Ethan pressed.

"Fine, one more story." Marie smiled. "Which one do you want me to tell? Cinderella? Snow White? Sleeping Beauty? Or how about the one about Captain Hook and his crew of nasty pirates?"

"Tell the one about Wendy." Violet suggested.

"That one again?" Ethan and Violet nodded vigorously. "All right then, it really must be your favorite. Here it is:

"Peter Pan had gathered together his group of Lost Boys. He couldn't have every one he wanted, but he put together a pretty good team. There were seven Boys, not including himself. They all came willingly and Peter was glad to have them. They made their hide-out and home in the middle of a forest in Neverland, so Captain Hook and his bloody pirates couldn't find them.

"Now every night, before Peter went to sleep, he would fly to London and listen to a blonde haired girl named Wendy Darling to tell a story to her two younger brothers. She was very good at it, and would get into the story so much, she would even have different voices for each character, and shout when they shouted, and fought when they fought. Some of her stories were even about him.

"On this particular night, Wendy had told the story about Peter cutting off Captain Hook's right hand, and that is why he now uses a hook for a hand. Peter waited until the end of her story, hiding just outside of the big window in their nursery which they always kept open. When he was sure she had dimmed the candle and was sleeping, he flew softly in and hovered above her bed to look down on her slumbering figure. She was a wonder to him, he never understood what it was about her, but he wanted to hear her stories all the time.

"Peter was going to wake her up and ask her to come to Neverland with him, but Tinkerbelle flew in at full speed and scared away his shadow. 'What'd you do that for, Tink?' Peter hissed. Tinkerbelle motioned that she didn't like Wendy. Peter shook his head, 'Well I don't care, I'm taking her back to Neverland to be the Lost Boys' storyteller. Now I have to go catch my shadow.'

"Peter finally caught his shadow and pinned him down, but he couldn't get him to stick. Peter began to cry softly. Then he heard a quiet voice from above him, 'Why are you crying?' Peter stood up quickly, steeping on his shadow so he wouldn't get away, and saw that it was Wendy. She was sitting up in her bed. 'Who are you, boy?' she asked him.

"'I'm Peter Pan.' He said. Wendy looked delighted.

"'I knew it was you! I just knew you would come!' She hopped off her bed and shook her brothers awake, whispering, 'Michael, John, wake up, Peter Pan is here!'"

Marie stopped suddenly at the sound of harsh footsteps coming up the stairs. "Oh no! Get into your bed, quick!" She tucked in Violet, kissing her softly on the forehead. "Good night, sweetie."

She ran light footed over to Ethan's bed and pecked him on the head too, "'Night, Ethan." Then she hopped into her own bed and ducked under the blankets, pretending to be asleep just as a woman appeared in the doorway.

"What do you children think you are doing awake at this time of night? I hear you! I'm not deaf! There will be no more storytelling for you, Miss Marie. You are leaving this orphanage in the morning, I don't care if you don't have anywhere to go, you're leaving. You'll spoil the minds of my sweet children if I don't get rid of you soon. Your brother and sister are getting adopted next week; you'll be out of here long before then, though. Actually, I forgot to mention Ethan and Violet had an older sister. They just might have adopted you too. I guess you'll never have a family. Oh well." A drunken voice teased. "Pretend to be asleep if you want, but I know you can hear me, and I also know you'll be crying your eyes out the minute I go back downstairs. Have a nice last night, Marie dear."

The ladies evil laughter could be heard echoing down the hallway, and then it disappeared as she returned to her bottle of Chardonnay.

Marie pulled the covers off her head and gulped. Where was she going to go? Miss Winglet might be drunk, but she was used to it, and she wouldn't forget what she said. If she said Marie would be out on the streets tomorrow, that's exactly where she would be sleeping tomorrow night. Marie turned on her side and looked up at the twinkling stars, wishing as hard as she could that time could be stilled so she could live forever on this one night, so that she would never have to face the world tomorrow morning. She knew for tonight she was safe, but beyond the light of the moon, she had no idea what was waiting for her. Where would she be this time tomorrow? Would she be sleeping in a dirty alley? She didn't want to know.


	2. Chapter Two

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Two**

Marie felt the sun shining down on her face. She felt grass beneath her body. She heard birds chirping and the sound of the…ocean near by. Where was she? This was not London that much she knew. Marie slowly opened her eyes, blinking, and taking in her surroundings. She knew this place. This was the seaport her father and mother took her to when she was real little. She remembered now. Her mom had sat on the grass with her while her father took Ethan fishing for the first time.

Marie smelled the air. It smelled just as she remembered it. She remembered lying next to her mom on a blanket, and feeling her mom's stomach, because that was when she was pregnant with Violet. She saw her mother's face. It was the first time in a long time she had remembered her parents, she thought about them all the time, but it was more wonders than memories. Her mother was beautiful. This special thought almost made her forget one thing: how did she get here?

Marie sat up so quickly her head began to spin. She stood up and began pacing, looking in both directions and trying to decide which way would get her back to London and Ethan and Violet. She couldn't leave them. Where were they? What were they doing? Were they already being adopted? Would she ever see them again? All of this was too much; Marie sat down hard on the ground.

"I have to think, think, think. What happened last night?" Marie muttered. "All I remember is Ms. Winglet coming in and telling me I'd be leaving today and….then nothing. I went to sleep. So what happened? Oh it's no use! I don't know! I'm never going to get back home! These streets are deserted, there isn't another human being for over twenty miles, I bet, and no one drives by here! I'm dead."

Marie rested her head on her hands and began to cry. She cried so hard she couldn't breath and she had to stop so she wouldn't faint. After she calmed herself down enough so she was only a little teary and taking rapid hyperventilating breaths, but she was breathing.

Marie wiped the tears from her cheeks and slowly stood up. She brushes the dirt off the back of her dress and smoothed it down. She heard a thud from behind her and she screamed and jumped around. A boy a little taller than her, with wild brown hair, dark blue eyes, freckles on his cheeks and dimples was standing a few feet away from her, looking like he'd never seen a girl in his life. He was wearing a costume that looked to be made of leaves and moss.

He stared at her for a very long time. He was looking at her like she couldn't possibly be standing in front of her right then, like she was supposed to be somewhere else, but then he blinked and that look wasn't there anymore, it was replaced by a look of wonder once more.

"Are you the new storyteller?" he asked.

"…Me? I…don't….think…so." Marie frowned. The boy frowned too. "Why do you ask?"

"I was sent to wait with the new storyteller; I thought she was supposed to be right here."

"And who sent you to get this storyteller of yours?" Marie questioned.

"Peter said she was to be like Wendy, but this one wouldn't leave." The boy looked unsure whether to tell her or not, but then decided she was harmless.

"Peter." Wendy repeated. "As in Peter Pan?"

The boy nodded. "Yes, you've heard of him?"

"I've heard stories about him. I've told stories about him, but he isn't real. He's just a make believe boy someone's mom and dad made up as a bedtime story. It's just a really great bedtime story." Marie looked at him as if he was crazy, and he looked at her in much the same way.

"Oh really?" The boy asked, giving her a defiant look. "And I suppose he can't fly either, right, Missy?"

"Of course not." Marie said.

The boy crossed his arms in front of his chest and smirked, he lifted a few feet up in the air. Marie's eyes widened. Then she pulled them into a frown again, "And I'm supposed to believe that you're Peter Pan?"

"No."

"Well, then, how did you do that anyways?"

"All you need to do is think happy thoughts, and, of course, a little bit of….." He was interrupted by Marie.

"Faerie dust?"

"Yep, that's the stuff. See, I guess you do know a lot about Peter Pan after all." The boy said. "So, are you the new storyteller?"

"I don't really know. Did Peter Pan tell you her name?" Marie was still looking curiously at this odd boy.

"Yeah. Her name was…...oh darn, I forget! I think it was……Marie or something like that."

"That's my name! Marie Antoinette Delonge." Marie looked fascinated.

"Then I guess you're the new storyteller. Come on, then, we have to go wait until its dark and then Peter will come for us." The boy led the way to the edge of a group of trees. They entered the shadows and the boy climbed the tree and sprawled out on a low limb as if he was going to sleep there.

"But I can't be the new storyteller!" Marie protested. "I need to get home to my sister and brother!"

The boy looked down with a tired look on his face, "Talk to Peter, not me, wait until he comes."

"Are you going to sleep?!" Marie sounded shocked.

"Well I was going to, but someone won't be quiet."

"You can't sleep up there! You'll fall! What am I going to do if you die?"

"I'm not gonna fall, I sleep in trees all the time."

"So that's what this is? You're some kind of homeless orphan playing tricks?"

"I play plenty of tricks, but this isn't one of them, and I'm not a homeless orphan, they usually call us Lost Boys." He declared.

"Oh, you're a Lost Boy. So which one are you? Let me guess. You can't be Barky or Hoppy, because they won't go anywhere without their twin, and you can't be Curly, because your hair isn't curly, and you can't be Tootles, because he's chubby, so you're either Nibbs or Slightly. Which one? Or is there more?"

"You know about all of them? Wow. Well, you forgot a few, but they're new." He looked impressed.

"Yes, now who are you?"

"I'm Slightly." He answered. "Nice you meet you, Marie." He reached down and shook her hand.

"Good manners for such a wild boy." Marie commented.

"Hey, we aren't all that wild. We just don't have anyone to teach us these things."

"And who would teach you 'these things'?" Marie asked, to her this was starting to sound like what Peter told Wendy to convince her to come to Neverland with him.

"Well, we don't have a mother, and I'm not asking you to be our mother, because we tried that once with Wendy, and when she left, Peter never got over it. But Peter wants a girl to…to…well I'm not exactly sure what you're supposed to do, but you have to come with us!" Slightly looked slightly confused, "You don't really want to stay here, do you?"

"Of course I don't want to stay here! But I don't know you! I can't just go away with someone I don't even know! How do I know you didn't drug me to make me see things, like you flying, and wearing that ridiculous outfit?" Marie took a deep breath. "All of these things you are talking about have been stories to me. I told the story about Peter Pan and Wendy last night to my sister, Violet, and my brother, Ethan. Well, I told them part of the story, but then stupid Ms. Winglet came up and told me I would be leaving tomorrow. Then I wished for the night to never end so I wouldn't have to see what was going to happen today!" Marie's eyes shot up accusingly to look into Slightly's blue ones, "Is that it? Was Peter listening to me? Was he there last night? I didn't wish to come to Neverland. I didn't."

Slightly just looked at her, "I didn't," she said shaking her head. Marie bit her lip, "Maybe I did."

"Peter won't just take anyone. You see he's been looking for someone like you for a long time. I suppose he'll let you bring your brother and sister if they want to be with you, too. But I think there's something else about you that Peter didn't say…" Slightly hesitated.

"What is it? Tell me." Marie had been sitting on the ground a few feet away from the tree Slightly was perched on, she got up and walked over to it, reaching up to put her hand on the branch.

"Well, there's a story about a girl that one of the Lost Boys told us when he first came. He said his mother told him the story of an orphan girl named Marie who had a younger brother and sister, and she was really the daughter of Wendy, and her brother and sister were her other children. But Wendy died when the little sister was born, and her husband brought them all to an orphanage because the only one he really truly wanted was Wendy. I think Peter had it in his mind to kill you, but he decided to keep you to see how much of Wendy is still in you." Slightly said.

"That's not true about my father! He loved us, he did! He might never have said it, but he loved us. And though he would sometimes have drunken rages, we knew it was just all the alcohol. My father did not leave us at an orphanage, he must have been coming back for us, and maybe that's who's adopting Violet and Ethan….and me if I get back in time!" Marie looked desperate. "I have to go! Tell Peter I'm very sorry, but I can never be his storyteller. I might not want to grow older, but I have to because I need to take care of my sister and brother."

Marie ran out of the cluster of trees and began running, following the dirt road that led to a town many, many miles away. She had only gotten a little ways away when something whooshed by her head. She stopped dead in her tracks and looked around. She whipped around to see if someone was behind her. Someone tapped her on the shoulder; she shrieked and turned around again.

"You can't leave, Marie, Peter told me to keep you here." Slightly said.

"I don't know who you think you are, but I don't have to listen to you, for goodness sake you're only ten years old! I'm fourteen, just to let you know, and I'm almost a lady, I don't need to listen to a child." Marie pushed him aside and began walking away again.

"I am not ten! I'm…I'm…I've forgotten how old I am." Slightly admitted.

Marie slowed down a little. She looked over her shoulder and saw that he wasn't following her, but…crying? He was sitting on the ground…crying. Marie went back over to him and kneeled on the ground. She put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Don't cry, Slightly."

He looked up laughing, "Ha! I got you! I wasn't crying, I was faking, but it got you to come back, huh?" He grabbed her hand and dragged her back to the trees.

"You little devil! Let me go! If I wasn't almost a lady I would fight you, but it wouldn't be right to fight a little boy and win." Marie was yelling.

"Girls, they never shut up, do they?" Slightly let go of her hand, thinking she would follow him the rest of the way.

"What was that?" Marie asked, stopping where she was.

"I said 'girls never shut up'." Slightly repeated, still walking.

"Oh, that's it!" Marie shouted. She ran at Slightly and jumped on his shoulders, making him fall to the ground, she pinned him there and said, "You really need to learn, boy."

"Learn what?" Slightly pushed her off and sat up, looking very puzzled.

"I give up, really, I do. I'll just wait until Peter comes and hope he's smarter than you." Marie got up and walked back to the trees. She entered their shadows and curled up on the ground. A minute later Slightly walked in. He glanced over at her and went to a tree just close enough to hear her if she called and to see if she left. He climbed up and fell asleep on a low branch.

Marie fell asleep thinking about whether or not this was all just a dream, and she would wake up any minute in her own bed. Marie began to dream about being at her old home, with her mother and father. She saw her mother asleep in the rocking chair by the big open window. She whispered something about Peter Pan. Could her mother really be Wendy?


	3. Chapter Three

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Three**

Marie awoke to the sound of Slightly's voice. Who was he talking to? Marie stayed quiet and didn't move so she could listen to them.

"I don't get girls, Peter, how did you ever understand Wendy?" Slightly whispered.

Another voice replied, it was a little bit deeper and he talked like he was always on the verge of laughter, "I didn't really understand Wendy, Slightly, but I guess you aren't supposed to get girls. They kind of just, I can't explain it, you'll just have to wait and see for yourself."

"Wait and see what for myself?" Slightly asked, but Peter just laughed. A minute later Slightly queried, "How old am I?"

"How old are you? Where did that come from? You've never asked before."

"I know, but I want to know how old I am." Slightly said.

"Well, I can check when we get back to Neverland. I think Tink had me record how old all of you were when we brought you to Neverland. I do remember that you were the first Lost Boy, though. Then came Tootles, Nibbs, Curly, Barky and Hoppy, Whittle, and last to join was Quickie." Peter said.

"Thanks. So when are we going?" Slightly asked.

"Well where is she?" Peter looked around.

"Right over there, she's sleeping, I think." Slightly looked over to the spot where Marie was pretending to sleep. She was very good at that.

"Okay, then I'm going to wake her up, and after I answer all those questions you said she has, we'll leave." Peter tiptoed over to Marie and sat down next to her.

He shook her shoulder lightly. Marie fluttered open her eyes so he would think she had been sleeping. Her jaw dropped. Peter Pan looked exactly as he was supposed to, and he had his goofy smile on his face. "Hello, Marie, I'm Peter Pan."

"Hi." Marie said, sitting up and pulling at her curls so they weren't wild and crazy.

"Do you want to come to Neverland?" He asked.

"Yes, but I need to bring Violet and Ethan." Marie said.

"Who are they?"

"They're my sister and brother."

"Oh, well, I guess they can come if they want to, and just so long as they don't make you want to come home." Peter agreed.

"What do I have to come home to? My mother is dead, and as far as I know, my father is too."

"Okay, than let's go get them. Now where did Tinkerbelle disappear to?" Peter looked around, "Tink. Tinkerbelle, come here. I know you don't like girls, but you know you'll always be my best friend, and my first friend, and my partner."

Tinkerbelle flew out from behind a leaf, and went, smiling, over to Peter. He grabbed her and shook her over Marie's head so sparkly drops fell onto her head. Then he let her go and she flew up to a high branch where he couldn't reach her again unless he flew up there.

"Well there you go, now all you have to do is think a happy thought, and you can fly." Peter said. "And, unless you have more questions, we should probably get going."

"I'll ask you them when we get there, then." Marie said.

"Okay, then let's go." Peter grinned. "Come on Slightly, Tink, let's fly."

Slightly appeared beside Marie and Peter and Tinkerbelle flew down a few branches. They walked out from the cover of the trees and Peter and Slightly flew up in the air. Marie tried to think of a happy thought. She mumbled to herself, "A happy thought, a happy thought."

Peter was chasing Tinkerbelle, trying to get her to forgive him. Slightly landed beside Marie to wait for her, "Don't you have a happy thought?"

"Of course I do. I just can't think of one." Marie looked down at her toes. "What's your happy thought, Slightly?"

Slightly looked at her and said, "My happy thought? My happy thought is going on adventures, I guess."

"What do you mean, you guess? Don't you know?" Marie asked.

"Not really, I guess I just know I have one and I don't need to know what it is." He shrugged.

"Well, I guess mine is not having to worry about staying another night with Ms. Winglet anymore." Marie said. She thought real hard about that.

"I don't think that's happy enough. Think of something more." He suggested.

"Hmm…my mother." Marie whispered. She closed her eyes and pictured her mother's face. She tried to recall the scent of her perfume and the warmth of her skin when she pulled her into a tight hug before bed. She remembered trying to find the 'hidden kiss' her mother's aunt always talked about. Her mother's aunt would tell Marie she'd get a hidden kiss when she was older. Last year, when the old lady was in her bed, about to die, she called for Marie and Violet and Ethan to visit, and she said Marie finally got her hidden kiss, and she was to save it for a special boy. Marie opened her eyes and saw Slightly and Peter grinning at her. She looked down and smiled, she was flying!

"Come on, Marie; let's go get your brother and sister!" Peter yelled, and Marie and Slightly followed Peter back to London.

They stopped on the roof of the orphanage. "Now where would they be right now?" Peter asked.

"Sleeping, silly, it is really late, you know." Marie giggled. "I'll go get them, wait right here."

She flew to their window and slowly opened it so it didn't make any noise. She flew in, and kept the window open in case she needed a fast escape. She saw the sleeping forms of her little sister and brother. Marie decided to wake up Ethan first. She went over to his bed and shook his shoulder lightly. "Wake up, Ethan." He stretched out his arms and then opened his eyes.

"Marie!" He said, a little too loud. Marie smacked her hand over his mouth and put her finger to her lips.

"We're leaving. We're going to go to Neverland." Marie told him.

"Neverland, but that's not a real place, Marie, it's just a faerie tale." Ethan protested. "Where have you been, Marie, we thought you ran away and left us here alone."

"I'd never leave you!" Marie hugged him. "But Neverland is a real place, and if you want to forget about being an orphan, then we can go there. Peter Pan and one of the Lost Boys are on the roof right now, waiting for us."

"Really?" Ethan hopped out of his bed and stuck his head out the window. "Where?"

"You can't see them on the roof, but Peter said he'd come when I call him." Marie said. "Now come here and help me wake up Violet."

"Okay." Ethan came away from the window, but it came crashing down. Marie jumped at the sound and Ethan cringed. "Oh no!"

"Hurry, open the window and call out for Peter!" Marie instructed. She ran over to Violet's bed and picked up her little sister. Violet squirmed and opened her eyes.

"Marie! You came back for us!" Violet smiled sleepily.

"Shh! Honey, be quiet, we have to leave right now, okay? We're going to go to Neverland." Marie said.

"To Neverland, but I thought that place wasn't real?" Violet asked.

"I was wrong." Marie said. "Now come on."

"Who's that?" Violet looked scared. Peter and Slightly were at the window.

"That's Peter Pan and one of his Lost Boys." Marie carried Violet over to the window and handed her to Slightly, "Hold her for a second, I have to do something, I'll be right back. Fly her to the roof if you can."

"Which Lost Boy are you?" Violet wondered.

"Slightly." He said.

"You're my sister's favorite. She always said she liked you. Whenever she told stories she made you the main Lost Boy so she could talk about you. I don't have a favorite, I like you all." Violet held around his neck as he carried her to the window.

"Well that's something I didn't know. From the way Marie was acting I would have thought I was her least favorite." Slightly said. "I'm going to fly us up to the roof, okay?"

"You can fly?" Violet's eyes got wide.

"Yep."

"Cool!" Violet shrieked with laughter the whole ride up to the roof.

Peter was still in the room with Ethan. Marie had told Peter that Ethan was only nine and he couldn't weigh more than seventy pounds, so he should take him up to the roof too, but Ethan wouldn't go near him.

"What did you do to my sister?" Ethan demanded.

"What do you mean? I didn't do anything." Peter looked bewildered.

"You better not hurt her, she's been through enough." Ethan warned.

"Okay, I promise I won't hurt her. Now would you please let me fly you up to the roof so we don't get caught?" Peter grabbed under Ethan's arms and flew him up to the roof.

"That was amazing!" Ethan smiled.

Marie snuck downstairs. She was surprised Ms. Winglet didn't wake up from all that racket, but she was probably so drunk she couldn't move, let alone wake up to find out where the crash came from. Marie opened the closet door and reached up to retrieve a duct taped shoe box. Marie closed the closet door and was about to go back upstairs when she heard someone behind her.

"I knew you would come back for your box. Well, you aren't going to have it. I don't know where you went, or how you left, but you're not leaving again. You're going to be doing chores for the rest of your pitiful life. Now give me the box and get back to bed!" Ms. Winglet was standing in her bedroom doorway.

"I don't think so." Marie smirked. She ran up the stairs and into her room. She went slowly enough so that Ms. Winglet could follow her. She waited at her doorway until Ms. Winglet turned around the corner.

"You can't go anywhere, Marie!" Ms. Winglet laughed evilly.

"Oh really?" Marie raised her eyebrows. "Buh bye, now, Ms. Winglet, have fun with your hangover tomorrow morning. This time you'll have to get your own aspirin."

Marie smiled and slammed the door shut. She was out the window and on the roof by the time Ms. Winglet opened the door again. She didn't have a clue how they had all left, but she didn't bother to call the police.


	4. Chapter Four

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Four**

Marie joined the others on the roof and heard Violet telling Peter and Slightly that, "Marie promised she would never marry and would never fall in love because of one night when she woke up from a bad dream and went in mother's room to sit on her lap and have her rock her back asleep. She found that mother wasn't asleep, but sitting by the open window, crying. Marie had crept quietly over to the chair and crawled up on mother's lap, 'what's wrong, Mommy?' she'd asked. 'Nothing, dear.' Mommy answered, cuddling Marie to keep warm. 'Please tell me, Mommy.' Marie had asked. 'Well, Mommy is sad because she lost someone very close to her when she was younger.' Mommy tried to explain. 'What happened to them? Did they die like Gramma and Grampy?' Marie didn't understand. 'No, sweetie, he didn't die. I loved him, but he didn't want to grow up. His name was Peter Pan.' And then Mommy told her the story about you, Peter. And that's why Marie won't let anyone but me and Ethan get close enough for her to love, because she doesn't want to get hurt like mother."

"Violet!" Marie rushed over and pulled her sister away from them. Peter and Slightly looked amazed. They stared at her.

"You aren't going to love because of me?" Peter asked.

Marie swallowed, "I don't want to talk about it."

Peter shook it off and smiled, "You know, little Violet her could be our storyteller too, she's just like you and your mother."

"I guess it runs in the family." Marie shrugged. "Now shouldn't we get going?"

"Yes, I should very much like to fly again." Ethan said.

"Me too! Me too!" Violet jumped up and down.

"Okay, then let's go!" Peter sprinkled Tinkerbelle's faerie dust over Violet and Ethan and instructed them to think a happy thought and it would lift them into the air.

Violet clasped her hands together and frowned, thinking of a happy thought. She began to lift up into the air. "I'm flying!" She exclaimed.

Soon Ethan was flying around in the air next to her and they were ready to go. "Come on, Marie." Ethan called down to her.

"I'm coming." Marie pushed off the ground and flew beside her younger siblings. They followed Peter and Tinkerbelle. In the back was Slightly, going slow, like he was thinking about something. "Catch up, Slightly!" Marie yelled down to him. Slightly picked up speed and whizzed by her.

"Me catch up?" Slightly had his arms crossed over his chest. "I think it's you who needs to catch up!"

Marie took hold of Violet's hand, Violet took hold of Ethan's too, and they flew up to meet Peter, Tinkerbelle and Slightly. Peter sent Slightly ahead to tell the Lost Boys they would be arriving soon. Slightly flew off and disappeared into the distance.

"Marie, come here and look at this." Peter pointed to an extra bright star. "That's how you get to Neverland. Second star to the right and straight on until morning."

"How odd, I never knew you could measure by stars. How do you find the right one?" Marie questioned.

"It's easy, but you probably wouldn't know." Peter said smirking.

"And did my mother know?" Marie asked.

The smirk was wiped right off Peter's face, "I don't know your mother, so how would I know if she could find the right star?"

"Peter, you know Wendy was my mother, you knew before I did. Well, just so you know, she never loved my father; she only married because her Aunt Millicent asked her what the neighbors would think of her if she didn't. My mother wanted to stay single forever because the one she loved, you Peter, refused to grow up. So don't try to pretend about this. It was you who did it." Marie stated.

Peter looked the behind us at Violet and Ethan, down at the London streets, and above us at the stars, but he wouldn't look at me as he spoke, "I didn't love Wendy. She was just a silly girl who told good stories."

"That's what you say, but I think you're lying." Marie said. "You're hurt because she moved on when you haven't, and now it's too late because she's dead."

"Hold on to my foot." Peter ordered.

"What?" Marie looked at the foot he held in front of her face.

"Just do it, and pass it on." He said impatiently.

"All right. All right." Marie grabbed his foot and had Violet and Ethan do the same.

"Whatever happens, don't let go." Peter shouted back to them.

They were flying faster and faster through a vortex of light and color. Marie shook her curls back in the wind. They all screamed as they popped through to the other world, the world that was Neverland and released each other's ankles letting themselves fly in different directions and land on the soft cotton candy-like clouds.

"Are we in Neverland?" Violet's brown eyes wide with wonder.

"Yep, this is it." Peter whispered, "Neverland."

"Wow, it's even more beautiful than what Marie described it to look like." Violet was peering down below them at the huge Island and the blue, blue water. "I've never seen trees so green, or water so blue and clear. It's like heaven."

"No, it's better," Peter said, "because in Neverland, you don't have to wait until you're old to go there, and you stay young and have fun forever!"

"It really is the most…colorful…place I've ever seen." Ethan said. "But is there anything to do? I mean, didn't Hook get eaten by that crocodile? So who do you have to watch out for and to fight with? There isn't even a television."

"Television?" Peter goggled. "What's that?"

"You've never heard of television?" Violet asked incredulously.

"Don't say it like that, Violet, we just got it ourselves." Ethan scolded. "Television is moving pictures, so it's like watching a play right at home, and you can change the program to a different movie if you like. It's the best thing since the cinemas opened."

"What do you need television for when you've got adventures to go on yourself? It's better to make up your own adventure than to watch one someone else made happen." Peter said.

"Yeah, you said so yourself, Ethan, you always wanted to make up your own adventures. Now you can have them all the time." Violet smiled.

"So what is there to do in Neverland?" Ethan asked again, but he was truly interested this time.

"Well, there's the faerie wood, the pirate's caves, and yes Hook is gone, but there's still the pirates left and me and the Lost Boys challenge them to duels every so often, then there's the Indians, and the mermaids and us, the Lost Boys. We're building a new hideout tomorrow, because there's a new bad guy in Neverland who's about to find our old one, and now we need to make a different one, more secret and more fun. You can help." Peter offered, then continued, "But the thing is, we don't know who's hunting us down, so we have to find out quick, because it's never good to have the bad guy know who you are when you don't know who the bad guy is."

"Wow, I guess you do have a lot to do, but don't you get sick of just fighting all the time?" Ethan wondered.

"Get sick of fighting? I love it! We live for the trouble we cause. And we don't always fight; sometimes we just hang around the hideout and eat or play games and stuff." Peter informed them. "Come on, I'll show you the old hideout, but first you have to promise never to tell a soul."

"I promise." Ethan made a cross over his heart.

"I promise too, cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye." Violet made a cross over her heart as well, and pretended to poke her eye out with a needle.

"Wait a minute." Peter looked around. "Where's Marie?"


	5. Chapter Five

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Five**

"Marie! Marie! Where are you?" Violet and Ethan screamed, looking everywhere for their older sister that they could see from their perch on the fluffy pink cloud.

"Oh, Peter Pan, how could you have lost my big sister?" Violet pouted.

"I didn't lose her," Peter denied. "She must have just let go of my foot or something."

"They how are we here, smart one?" Ethan glared at Peter.

"Don't worry about it, I'll find her, I promise. I would never let your sister get hurt." Peter reassured them. He turned to Tinkerbelle, "Go and find her, Tink."

Tinkerbelle shook her head furiously. She had been sent away once before and her mischievousness had made Peter mad at her. She didn't want to be sent again for she knew her jealousy of any girl would cause her to do something stupid again and get Peter mad, which was the one thing she didn't want. Tinkerbelle whispered in Peter's ear, "What if I accidentally tell the Lost Boys she's to be shot down?"

"Tink, put away your jealousy and go find her. I don't like Marie the way I liked Wendy, and plus, Marie is her daughter. So just don't worry about it and go." Peter hissed and pushed her to the edge of the cloud so she would go. Tinkerbelle glanced back, but flew away like she was told.

Tinkerbelle first flew down and skimmed the water to see if Marie had fallen in, as she had hoped, but it looked as if she hadn't landed in the water.

Next, she searched the closest place to the water, the pirate's cave, she only took a quick peek, but she figured Marie would have gotten out of there as soon as she realized she was in there. Tinkerbelle ducked around the corner of the cave just as someone screamed, "Stupid faerie!" and tried to fire at her with their gun, but missed by a long shot. Tinkerbelle sat panting on the outside of the cave for a moment, catching her breath from the scare.

Then she moved on the mermaids, but didn't stay long there either because she was very much afraid of them. She had once stuck her tongue out at them and was only an inch away from being grabbed and drowned. Peter had saved her though, pulled her away and flew back to the hideout. If Marie decided to have a little visit with the mermaids, she'd probably already made her permanent home at the bottom of the ocean, but it seems she wasn't there either.

Tinkerbelle buzzed her way over to the Indians camp and looked around there and the woods, but Marie wasn't there either. Tinkerbelle made a quick stop at her own home to see if she'd gone to see the faeries. Tinkerbelle was beginning to feel like giving up since Marie couldn't have known how to get to the Lost Boy's hideout unless she was taken there before. Then Tinkerbelle remembered. She hurried to the hideout.

She caught up with Marie who was making her way along the path and going directly on the path that led to the Lost Boy's hideout. Tinkerbelle knew there was something she'd remembered about her. Marie was the same little girl Peter had taken for a one day tour. Marie was only six then, and Wendy only agreed because she wanted Marie to know how she had felt when she came to Neverland, and the reasons for wanting to come back to London and grow up. And because that was the only time Peter had come to visit Wendy, but he didn't remember that time ran different in Neverland and Wendy was too old for him then.

Marie didn't remember coming, she thought it was a dream she'd had when she was little, and that she was remembering bits and pieces of it. To Marie, she was just walking in her real-life dream world and this wasn't real.

Tinkerbelle grabbed a curl and pulled her back, squeaking at her to explain why she'd run off. Marie didn't understand what Tinkerbelle was saying so she waited for the little faerie to calm down and say it again slower.

"Well, this was in a dream I had when I was little. I remembered following Peter Pan here and meeting the Lost Boys and going inside their hideout. I was just coming to see if my dream was right." Marie said guiltily.

"Yeah, well, you shouldn't have left, you had Peter and those other kids worried half to death about you." Tinkerbelle pushed Marie through the trees to reveal a hidden entry to the Lost Boy's hideout. "There you go, now go knock on the door and wait for the Boys to open it."

"Wait, where are you going?" Marie wanted to know.

"I'm going to tell Peter I've found you." Tinkerbelle said.

"Wait, so my dream was right?"

"It wasn't a dream, Wendy daughter, it really happened. Wendy let you come here with Peter when you were young to see her dreamland, and so that you would know it was better in London, but you didn't think so. Peter and I visited your room every night and heard you begging Wendy to let you come back, but you soon forget, because that is what little children do." Tinkerbelle would spit out Wendy's name whenever she had to use it. "Now go and knock on the door, don't be scared they'll let you in. I'm not sure what they'll do to you once you get in there, but you'll be fine until then." Tinkerbelle laughed and flew away to find Peter.

"What are they going to do to me when I get in there?" Marie asked nobody in particular. "Slightly knows me, he won't let the others do anything." Marie nodded her head and went up to the bark door. She hesitantly lifted up her fist and knocked loudly.

Marie heard sounds from inside, like whispers and shuffling feet. She put her ear to the door and heard, "Open the door." "No, it'll hit her." "Oh yeah, it lifts outwards." "Good one, Whittle." "Shut up." "Would somebody please go get her?" "Let's just go out and get her." Marie pulled her ear away from the door and stepped a few feet away. She looked up to see if there was a way to get up that way, but there wasn't any other opening as far as she could tell.

Marie walked back in front of the door and knocked again, "Would someone please let me in?" she called loudly. "Slightly? Anyone?" Marie waited a few minutes and decided they weren't going to open the door, but she had no where else to go so she knocked one more time.

"Looking for us?" A voice said from behind her.

Marie jumped around. There were seven boys behind her. They all wore fur from animals or leave and moss clothes, just like Slightly, but she didn't see him. "Hello." Marie waved uncertainly. "I'm Marie."

"Marie?" A boy with longish blonde hair stepped forward. "Whoa, you've certainly grown up since the last time I saw you."

"You've seen me before?" Marie asked.

"Yeah, don't you remember me?" the boy asked. He looked around Marie's age, or maybe a little younger. "I'm Nibbs. You met me when you were just a little girl."

"Nibbs." Marie repeated. "Aren't you the one who tried to cut off all my curls when I said you looked like a girl with your hair so long?"

Nibbs turned a little pink, "Yeah that was me. Sorry 'bout that."

"It's fine." Marie laughed. "And who are the rest of you?"

"I'm Tootles." A chubby blonde boy stepped forward. "You probably don't remember me."

"Tootles! How could I forget you? You stole the last piece of chocolate cake Peter gave me when you thought I wasn't looking." Marie was laughing again.

"I get hungry, you know that." Tootles said to the other Boy's comments.

"And who are you?" Marie pointed to a boy with curly blonde hair. "Wait, let me guess. You're Curly."

"Yeah." Curly smiled.

"And you were the shy one who didn't talk much, right?" Marie asked.

"Yeah." Curly's cheeks turned red and he shuffled his feet from the attention.

Marie smiled. "You two must be Barky and Hoppy, right?"

"Yeah." The little brown haired boys said together.

"And we snuck away after dinner and danced with the Indians!" Marie said, and the boys nodded, huge smiles on their faces.

"But I don't know you two." Marie pointed to the last remaining boys. "Who are you?"

"I'm Whittle." A boy with black hair and grey eyes, who was around nine or ten years old replied.

"Nice to meet you, Whittle." Marie shook Whittle's hand. "And you?" She said to the last boy, who looked to be the youngest, around six or seven years old.

"Quickie," A cute little boy with light brown hair and sky blue eyes answered.

"Well, now I've met all of the Lost Boys…right?" Marie asked. "I mean, there aren't any more of you, right?"

"Nope that's all of us." Nibbs said.

"Good." Marie breathed out in a voice no one else heard. Then Marie frowned and looked around, "Where's Slightly?"

"So you have met him?" Nibbs asked.

"Yeah, he waited with me for Peter to come back." Marie explained. "Didn't all of you know that? I thought Slightly had come back to tell you we were coming?"

"He did." Tootles said.

"And now he's sleeping in a tree somewhere." Nibbs waved his hand to show he didn't know where Slightly was.

"Is he always asleep in a tree?" Marie wondered.

"No, not usually," Whittle replied.

"Well he went to sleep in a tree when we were waiting for Peter to come, too." Marie said.

"I'll let you in on a secret," Nibbs leaned in, "He doesn't usually sleep when he says he's going to. If it's the middle of the day, like this, then he really means he's going to think and he doesn't want anyone else to come."

"Why? What happened to him?" Marie asked. "I remember him as loud and never being quiet."

"He's usually like that." The twins agreed.

"Yeah, well, Peter tells us just to leave him be when he doesn't want to talk because he had a rough past, but he won't ever tell us. Peter says if Slightly wants us to know he'll tell us." Nibbs said.

"But he never has." Tootles told her.

"Oh, that's so sad." Marie said.

"Don't feel bad for me." Everybody jumped at the sound of Slightly's voice.

"Slightly, hi," Tootles said guiltily.

"What's going on, Slight?" Nibbs asked.

"Hi." Marie said quietly.

Everyone had moved away from Marie, leaving her closest to Slightly. She looked around when she realized they left her and took a couple steps backwards. Slightly was staring at them, but he didn't say anything else.

"Well, it was quite nice seeing you again, Marie, but I think I'm going to go inside and start cooking dinner." Nibbs inched away and ran around the back to the other secret entrance Marie figured they'd come out of.

"Yeah, I'll go help him." Tootles said and followed Nibbs.

"Us too." The twins announced and ran off. The rest of the Boys silently drifted off after the others.

"Don't everybody leave me!" Marie called after the last Boys. Marie turned to face Slightly and cautiously smiled, "So…" But she didn't have to finish because right at that moment Peter, Violet and Ethan returned. "Peter!" Marie smiled gratefully at him.

"Marie!" Violet squealed and jumped into Marie's arms and Ethan joined the hug, then Violet noticed Slightly and said, "Hi, Slightly!" He turned and walked away from them.

"What's wrong with him?" Peter asked.

"Well…I was talking to the Boys and I asked where he was and they said he was sleeping, but then they told me about what he's really doing when he says he's going to nap in a tree…" Marie started.

"Oh no, and he heard you, right?" Peter shook his head.

Marie flinched, "I'm sorry."

"Don't tell me, tell him." Peter said.

"What?" Marie looked shocked, "But what if he won't talk to me?"

"He will." Peter said. "Slightly isn't like that. He's really nice, and he'll forgive you whether you say sorry or not. He just had a really rough past, but I can't tell you, because it wouldn't be right. He told me not to tell anyone."

"Poor thing," Violet cooed.

Marie smiled at her little sister. "I have an idea. Why don't you go get that thing that says how old all the Boys are, so that when I get him to come out of wherever he went, you'll be able to tell him something to make him happy."

"That's a great idea!" Peter grinned. "And then I'll tell all the boys how old they – wait a minute, how did you know about that? You were sleeping."

"She's a great pretend sleeper, did I ever tell you that?" Ethan said.

"So you were listening the whole time?" Peter accused.

"Not the whole time, I don't think," Marie shrugged. "I only heard that part. I'm sorry. I don't do anything right." Marie sat on the ground, and Violet sat on her lap, she was a good little comforter.

"No, I'm sorry, Marie, I don't know how to deal with girls, I'm used to boys, you know." Peter kneeled down in front of her. "Look, you're fine, you don't do anything wrong. Now go on and talk to Slightly, he's a sensitive little boy, not just a cutie."

"What?" Marie looked up at him.

"Your sister told me you think he's a cutie, and you think I'm the most handsome boy you've ever met, but don't get mad at her, she told me you would." Peter laughed.

Marie blushed, "Well, I never said that."

"Yes you did!" Violet protested. "But it was before she met you guys, she just, I don't know how she knew what you guys looked like."

"I'm going now." Marie got up and began walking away. "Wait, how do I get in there? Or rather, where did he go?"

"I'll show you the way in, and then I'll show you his usual spot." Peter said. "And then I'll go make sure Nibbs isn't cooking, because he's not very good at it. Our usual cook is Tootles, so I hope Nibbs isn't trying to show off and cooking the food again. Come on."

"Okay." Marie agreed. She took Violet's hand and Ethan walked along her other side, and they followed Peter to the other side of the hideout. He pushed aside a pile of leaves and revealed a rather large whole in the ground. "What's that for?" Marie asked because she was kind of claustrophobic.

"This is the way in," Peter pointed. "Ethan, you go first."

"Me?" Ethan pointed at himself.

Peter looked around, "Yes you. Go on."

Ethan looked over at Marie, who nodded, and then he sat on the edge of the hole with his feet dangling in. He took a deep breath and pushed himself in. He screamed all the way down, until he hit the ground, but it was a happy scream.

"I'll go next so I can make sure the Boys don't kill your brother." Peter jumped down the hole, laughing as he slid down. When he got to the bottom he yelled back up, "You're next, Marie, so you can catch Violet if she needs you to."

"Me, okay, yeah, sure," Marie sat down next to the whole. "Okay, sweetie, I'm gonna go down and then you come right after me and I'll catch you at the bottom."

"Okay." Violet nodded her head, causing her little brown curls to bob up and down.

Marie smiled and sent herself flying down the slide, she screamed only at the very end when she saw the Boys crowded around the end of the whole waiting for her to tumble out. Marie got up and straightened out her night gown. "Hi, Boys," she said.

They smiled and said their greetings.

"Marie!" Violet called down.

"Come on down, baby." Marie yelled back up.

The Boys came closer to the slides end once again. "Who's coming?" Quickie asked.

"My little sister, Violet, she's probably around your age. She's five, how old are you?" Marie queried.

"I don't remember." He said.

"Oh, that's okay, I'm sorry." Marie turned back to the slide and held out her arms as she heard Violet's shrieks of delight. She popped out at the bottom and fell right into Marie's arms.

"Let's do it again!" She said excitedly. Then she noticed all the boys and she stood up and hid behind Marie's back. "Who are all them?"

"They're the Lost Boys, like Slightly." Marie said, and then she remembered about her apology to him. "I'm going to go away for a few minutes, but I'll be back soon, okay? You stay with Ethan and Peter and the other Lost Boys."

"I want to come with you." Violet was a little shy around new people, but only for a few minutes.

"Where are you going?" Quickie questioned.

"I need – go – talk – to – someone, I'll be right back, don't worry." Marie said.

"Oh, are you going to talk to Slight?" Nibbs whispered real quietly. Marie nodded. "He's in our room, right through that door." He directed.

"Thanks." Marie said, and headed towards the door.


	6. Chapter Six

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Six**

Marie walked into the dimly lit room which she guessed was the Boy's bedroom since there were blankets and pillows everywhere. Marie looked around, straining her eyes against the dark, and tried to see where Slightly was.

"Slightly?" Marie said slowly. "Are you in here?"

Marie heard a sniffle coming from the corner and she looked over and saw Slightly sitting on one of the beds, his back facing her. Marie walked over and sat down next to him, not saying a word. He glanced over at her, but didn't say anything, and looked away once he saw it was her.

"I'm sorry." Marie said finally.

Slightly looked over at her again, "Sorry about what?"

"I'm sorry…I—I –- I…" Marie trailed off. She didn't know why she was sorry; all she knew was that she was. She felt bad that she made him upset, 'cause he didn't do anything to her. And she didn't want him to be sitting alone in here while everyone else was having fun in the other room. She knew that's what she should have said to him, but she hadn't said it out loud.

"You felt bad for me, who cares. You don't have to, you don't even know what you feel bad about. You ladies think you have to feel bad for everyone about everything even when it's none of your business, and it's not any of your business, Marie, so if you came in here to say sorry and to find out what's wrong, you can just leave because if I haven't even told the Boys, why would I tell you? You're just a prissy girl who wants attention from everyone. You aren't going to last any longer than Wendy did, and then Peter's going to be angry again. He falls in love with every lady that he brings here, and when they leave he makes a big deal about it." Slightly was going on and on, and at one point it sounded like he was crying, but then he stopped because he got mad, and Marie didn't know what to do other than listen, even though she wanted more than anything to run away.

"I'm sorry, Slightly. I didn't come to find out why you're upset, I just came to apologize. And I'm sorry you feel that way about me, but you're wrong about one thing, Peter was in love with my mother, you said so yourself, and he might have…You know what? I'm just going to leave now, okay? You got rid of the easy one, okay, you win. I'll just go home if you don't want me here." Marie didn't usually cry in front of people and she held back the tears until she got out of the room where Slightly was probably still staring at the spot she was in, because that was where she left him. She ran out of the room, but as soon as she saw Peter playing with the Boys and Violet and Ethan laughing she let her tears fall.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at her. She had stopped just outside of the doorway and leaned back against the wall, but she let herself slide down so she was sitting with her knees against her chest and her hands covering her eyes. Violet rushed over and pulled her hands away from her face, asking in her baby voice, "What's wrong, Marie?" Ethan came over too, sitting down next to her and putting his arm around her shoulder he said, "Its okay, whatever it is, its okay."

The Lost Boys had crowded around, some asking her what was wrong, while the others just looked at her. They never really saw many people crying since they didn't have much to cry about, but hadn't Marie just heard Slightly crying, or was that her imagination?

The only person who didn't come over to see her was Peter, and that was because he went into the room she just exited to bring Slightly out so he could see what he did to Marie, but Marie didn't want Slightly to see her crying. She didn't want him to think he made her feel bad. So she got up and tried to find a way to leave the hideout.

She looked over at Tootles who had followed her and asked, "How do you get out of this place?"

"Don't leave, Marie." Barky and Hoppy put on their sad face.

"We're leaving?" Violet asked.

"No, we can't leave, Marie. We just got here." Ethan whined.

By this time Peter had grabbed Slightly by the arm and pulled him out of their room to see her. Marie was only crying a little now, only letting her tears stream silently down her cheeks and drip off her chin onto her dress. When she saw Slightly in the doorway she spun around so he couldn't see her and ferociously wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve.

"Would everyone just get out of the room right now!" Violet shouted and shooed all of the Boys out of the room, including Peter and Ethan. After they all left she went back over to her big sister and held her arms up so Marie would pick her up. Marie complied and she sat down in a chair and rocked her. Violet knew she made Marie feel better.

Marie had calmed down by now and she was grateful to have Violet as her sister, she thought having everyone leave the room had helped her stop crying. "Would you like me to sing you a song?"

"Sure. You know your songs are just about as good as your stories, but I'll still be expecting one later." Violet said.

"Okay." Marie agreed and began to sing,

"_Stay awake_

_Don't_

_Rest your head._

_Don't lie down_

_Upon_

_Your bed. _

_While the moon drifts_

_In _

_The skies. _

_Stay awake_

_Don't close your eyes._

At this point Ethan had come in and sat by Marie's feet to listen to her sing, and the Lost Boys were listening at the doorway. Ethan turned around and motioned for them to come in. They all came in except for Nibbs, Tootles, Slightly and Peter, but they were all peering in through the doorway still.

"_Though the world _

_Is_

_Fast asleep. _

_Though your pillow's _

_Soft_

_And deep_

_You're not sleepy_

_As _

_You seem._

Tootles came in when Marie smiled at them, and Nibbs followed him. Peter came in and dragged Slightly with him, so for the last few lines everyone was listening to Marie sing, and for once she wasn't so shy and she managed to finish the song beautifully.

"_Stay awake_

_Don't_

_Nod and dream_

_Stay awake_

_Don't nod_

_And_

_Dream." _

It was quiet for a minute, and Violet was the one to break the silence, "Doesn't she sing like a angel?" She whispered.

"Yeah, she does." Ethan said first, and the rest of the Boys agreed too.

Marie smiled, then she sniffed the air. "Do I smell something?"

"It wasn't me." Quickie denied.

"No, no, no. I didn't mean that. I meant, do I smell food?" Marie laughed.

Tootles got up and went over to the large wooden table with was set with what was empty serving trays a minute ago. Tootles lifted off the lid on one of them, it was filled with barbequed chicken legs. "Looks like dinner is served," Tootles announced, bowing to them. They all rushed to the table and took the lids off the rest of them, revealing mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, rolls, spaghetti and meatballs, and they dug in.

"Wow!" Violet exclaimed over the table full of food.

"Where did you get all the food from?" Ethan asked in between bites of a chicken leg and a buttered roll at the same time.

"I cooked it." Tootles said.

"It's delicious." Marie commented, after taking a bite of a warm roll loaded with melted butter, and dishing herself some spaghetti and a meatball.

"Of course it is, this is Tootles we're talking about." Peter said.

"Do none of the rest of you know how to cook?" Marie questioned.

"We can cook." The twins offered.

"Only dessert, and that ends up being just a bowl full of raw cookie dough or a spoon full of chocolate frosting." Nibbs said.

"Curly makes the best dessert." Tootles commented.

"Yeah he does, that was his chocolate that Tootles stole from you last time you were here." Nibbs told Marie.

"She remembered being here before?" Peter asked, and everyone stopped eating.

"Yes, I know. Tinkerbelle told me." Marie informed him. "What's wrong with that?"

"Was she not supposed to know or something?" asked Nibbs.

"No, I was just wondering." Peter laughed, and began eating his chicken again. "Why do you always think I'm going to get mad at you when I ask a simple question?"

"I don't know, maybe because you have gotten mad before, and we didn't have a clue why." Nibbs suggested.

"Sorry." Peter said with his mouthful.

"So, Peter, what's our schedule for tomorrow look like?" Nibbs questioned.

"We're relocating our hideout, remember?" Peter said, "Tomorrow we'll scope out a place and mark it…"

"Secretly, of course," Slightly whispered to Ethan, whom he was sitting next to, and Ethan was sitting next to Marie who was at the end of the table, and Peter was at the other end, Violet was next to Marie on her other side. This was also the first thing Slightly had said all evening.

"…and then the next day we'll start planning it out…" Peter continued.

"Secretly, of course," Slightly whispered again.

"…and then we'll start building our new hideout." Peter finished.

"Secretly, of course," Slightly whispered, and winked at Violet.

"Peter, are you sure tomorrow is the best day to start all of this?" Quickie asked.

"Why wouldn't it be a good day?" Peter asked him back.

"Because tomorrow is my birthday," Quickie smiled.

"You say that everyday," Whittle replied.

"That reminds me of something." Peter said, looking at Marie. "Would you go get that paper up there, on top of that shelf?" Peter asked her.

"Sure." Marie got up and retrieved the paper, remembering now what he was up to.

"Read it starting with the littlest first." Peter said.

"Gladly," Marie smiled suspiciously to the Lost Boys.

"Would you all like to know how old you are again, because I have the feeling we've forgotten." Peter asked.

"Yeah." The Lost Boys answered.

"Okay…youngest first…" Marie traced her finger down to the last name and read, "Quickie, age six; Barky and Hoppy, age seven; Whittle, age nine; Curly, age eleven; Tootles, age thirteen; Nibbs, age fourteen; and Slightly, age fourteen."

Marie paused for a second.

"Oh yeah, and Peter, age fifteen," Marie said. "You came to Neverland on your birthday?"

"I guess so," Peter said. "So now you know, Slightly, you are fourteen years old."

"Yeah, thanks." Slightly said, "I told you I wasn't ten, Marie."

"Yep, you told me." Marie said. "You're always right, aren't you, Slightly?"


	7. Chapter Seven

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Seven**

Peter changed the subject back to the new hideout. He asked the Boys where they wanted to make their new home, and the Boys made their suggestions. Peter sent Slightly to get a piece of paper to write down their ideas. Marie ate silently, listening to their plans, and Violet and Ethan did the same.

When everyone was finished Peter said, "Everyone grab their dish and help clean up."

So all of the Boys, plus Marie, Ethan and Violet, grabbed their plate and piled them into the wash bin to wash in the morning. Then Peter said they would go into their room, for it was getting quite late, and listen to Marie tell a story.

The Boys gathered around the bed Peter set up for Marie, Violet and Ethan, and curled up next to each other with their pillows and blankets. Violet was lying down with her head on Marie's lap and Ethan was sitting on the floor with the rest of the Boys. He was becoming quick friends with Curly and Whittle, probably because they were closest to his age, nine. Peter pulled up his throne-like chair and sat in that next to Marie's bed so he was close enough to hear.

"Well, it looks like you're all ready." Marie started. "Is there any story in particular you want to hear?"

"Tell the one about Sleeping Beauty, Marie." Ethan said. That one was his favorite because she made it the most bloody.

"All right. Does everyone want to hear the story about Sleeping Beauty?" Marie questioned.

The Boys chorused their own, "Yes", "Sure", and "I know this one".

Violet had only one thing to straighten out, she sat up and whispered in Marie's ear, "Make sure it's the one where Sleeping Beauty is like you, and the prince is your dream boy, okay?"

Marie laughed, "Okay." Violet nestled her head back in Marie's lap.

"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful queen who was married to a man she didn't truly love. Everyday he would ask her to tell him she loved him, but everyday she refused because she couldn't lie about something so serious." Marie began. "So when the queen had a daughter with soft, dark curls and golden brown eyes, she knew she would let her daughter marry whomever she loved.

"But at the party for the baby girl, a dark stranger showed up. The queen wanted him kicked out, but she could get no man brave enough to make him leave. The stranger wore a dusty old cloak and heavy boots that thudded when he walked in them." Marie had stood up on the ground and pulled a blanket over her head to hide her face. She walked across the dirty floor stomping her bare feet. "His cloak covered his face, but when he spoke to a man in his raspy, throaty voice asking, "Where is the child?" The cloak slipped off a little, revealing a nasty scar starting at the top of his forehead and ending just above his lip."

Marie traced the line down Ethan's face, and he stood up to join the story, taking Marie's blanket as the cloak. She continued, "The stranger pulled the blanket back up to hide his face again, as people gasped at his scar. He made his way to where the baby of the lovely queen lay, but the queen blocked his way before he could reach for her."

Marie had Violet stand up to act out the part of the queen, for she knew her brother and sister knew this story by heart, and could help play out the lines for them. Violet put out her hand to stop Ethan from passing, "Who are you, stranger?"

"I'm here to give the little princess a gift." Ethan rasped.

"What sort of gift?" Violet demanded.

"One that will give me great power," Ethan pushed aside Violet and picked up the pillow Marie had wrapped in a blanket to be like the baby princess. Ethan held the baby up and shouted, "I'm putting a curse on this princess, so that when she turns sixteen, at the stroke of the hour she was born, she will fall to the ground, dead."

"No!" Violet screamed, grabbing the baby back and cradled her in her arms, pretending to weep, Violet said, "Get him out!"

Marie continued to narrate, "Two guards came and removed of the scarred stranger and the party continued normally for everyone else, but the queen, for any celebration was always an excuse to hang around, enjoy the food, and drink as much as you can. The queen took her baby daughter, Aurora, back to her room, where she placed her in her crib and called out the window to her faerie friend." Tinkerbelle, who had been sitting glumly on Peter's shoulder, perked up when she heard her name.

"Hey Marie," Peter interrupted. Marie stopped and looked at him, "Why don't you have Tinkerbelle and the Boy's play parts too, they like to get into the story, even if they won't admit it."

"All right, I'll give each of the Boy's parts when I get to it." Marie said, "Come here, Tinkerbelle." Tinkerbelle flew to Marie's shoulder and Marie whispered in her ear what to do, "Okay, we're ready now." She announced a moment later and continued narrating the story, "The queen's faerie friend flew in the window and asked her what she needed."

"Today was Aurora's celebration, where we announced her arrival, and while we were downstairs, a strange mad came and put a spell on her, that she will die on her sixteenth birthday!" Violet raged. "Is there anything you can do to reverse the spell?"

Tinkerbelle yelled her line so all the Boys could hear her, "I can't take that powerful of a spell completely away, but I can change it a little! On her sixteenth birthday, Aurora will not die, but fall into a deep slumber, and will awake at her true love's kiss!"

"Thank you." Violet said gratefully, "It might not be gone, but at least my beautiful daughter will not be dead. And she will get her true love to save her. How I wish my true love had saved me."

"The faerie left, as her job was done," Tinkerbelle flew back to Peter's shoulder when Marie said this, "and left the queen to dream about what her life would have been if her true love were with her. But the queen wasn't left alone for too long, the king came up to see what was wrong with her." Marie looked around and asked, "Who wants to be the king?"

Violet waved at Marie to bend down for a secret, "I was going to ask for Slightly to be the king, but he should be the prince, since I know that's who you based him on all those other times, but ask Peter if he'll be the king, please?"

"You're lucky I'm such a nice older sister, or you would be running right now." Marie warned.

"I know." Violet smiled innocently. "Can you?"

"Sure." Marie agreed. "How about you as the king, Peter?"

"Okay, just as long as you make the rest of these guys be in it too." Peter stood up.

"I will, I will." Marie smiled and winked at the Boys. Marie told Peter what to do and let them start up again.

"Why did you leave in the middle of the celebration?" Peter thundered, grabbing Violet, not roughly, by the shoulders.

"I'm – I'm sorry, but a powerful wizard put a spell on Aurora that she would die on her sixteenth birthday. I had to do something about it." Violet stuttered.

Peter released her and said, "What are we going to do?"

"Well, I had a friend change the spell so she'll only fall asleep until her true love kisses her, but I don't think this guy will give up." Violet shook her head, "Maybe we should send her to live with the three witches – I mean, uh…sorcerers until after her sixteenth birthday. They're kind and would take her in, and since they live in the middle of the forest, she can't be harmed."

"But then we won't be able to see her." Peter picked up the pillow bundle.

"It's for her protection, though." Violet reminded. "And we could probably visit sometimes, as long as we keep it secret and make sure no one knows about it."

"Okay."

"So the king and the queen kept their promise and the next morning they went to the…sorcerers' home in the middle of the woods and asked if they would keep their baby girl until she turned sixteen." Marie said. "Who wants to by my sorcerers?" Marie questioned the Boys.

"Oh, I know who everyone else should be, come here, Marie, and I'll tell you." Violet said before any of the Boys could volunteer. She whispered her thoughts in Marie's ear, and Marie made a face. "You _have _ to, Marie, it's perfect." Violet whined.

"Fine." Marie rolled her eyes. "Little sisters," she mumbled.

"Hey!" Violet protested.

"I mean, I love little sisters, don't the rest of you?" Marie asked. "Anyways, Whittle, Barky and Hoppy, you guys are the sorcerers. Okay?" The Boys nodded and stood up.

"Cool, we get to be sorcerers." Barky gave Hoppy a high five.

"And have magic powers!" Whittle added, and they high fived him too.

"Okay, come here." Marie told the Boys what they were supposed to do, and they started up the story again.

"The sorcerers took good care of Aurora, and as she grew, they grew to love her even more. She called them her uncles: Uncle Blitz, Uncle Winkle, and Uncle Tinsel." Violet took over narration since Marie was going to be Aurora now, which Violet announced to everyone, "I get to be the story teller right now, because Marie is going to be Aurora in a minute." She whispered to them and then got back to the story, "When it was just seven days before her sixteenth birthday, Aurora found she was being pushed out of the house more often than usual. Sometimes she would be asked to go pick some flowers because the house was looking dull, or to find the ripest berries to bake a pie for after dinner. She had not a clue what her uncles were up to, but she knew it must be something big, when she was once again sent out of the house for the day to do whatever she wanted and not to come back home until it was nearly dark. This only meant the uncle's had run out of ideas to get rid of her."

Marie pretended to leave the room and go outside, but really she just snuck around behind the Boys and sat with Ethan until she had to come back for her part. Barky and Hoppy busied themselves pretending to look through a cook book and not understanding what the directions read, while Whittle faked looking out a window to make sure Aurora was gone before he spoke.

"We better finish all of this today, I have a feeling she's beginning to suspect something." Whittle said.

"Well, we should have the cake ready by today, as long as we get it right this time, and then we can make sure the king and queen are informed about tomorrow night's secret party." Hoppy replied.

"Yes, I'll send the letter now, so they get it in time." Barky got up and started to write on an imaginary piece of paper.

"While her uncles busied themselves with this," Violet spoke, "Aurora was walking in the woods, and visiting her friends of the forest."

Marie stood up and walked around the room, humming a tune she didn't quite know where she picked up, but decided it was fine to be singing to her animal friends. "What are those old men up to now?" Marie laughed to herself.

"Aurora walked for a while, filling her basket with flowers and berries, and singing with the birds and petting the chipmunks that followed her." Violet said. "She stopped to sit under a tree by a little stream and eat her roll she brought for lunch." Marie sat down and pretended to eat a roll. "She heard the hoofs of a horse approaching and hid behind the tree to see who it was, as she was told to do by her uncles if ever a stranger entered the woods." Marie looked around for something to pretend to be her hiding tree but found none, so she ducked behind Peter who was still standing. All the Boys laughed, including Peter.

Violet giggled and continued to narrate, "Aurora heard the pounding of the horse's hoofs and peeked out from behind the tree and saw a prince sitting upon a noble white horse…oh yeah, I forgot!" Violet paused. "Slightly, you get to be the prince."

Slightly glanced over at Marie and then back at Violet, "Are you sure?"

Marie hurried over to Violet and whispered that maybe she should have Nibbs or Tootles, or even Curly be the prince, but Violet stood by her first pick, "Of course I'm sure." She pushed Marie back behind Peter. "Come here, then, so I can tell you what you are supposed to do."

Slightly hesitantly went to Violet and bent down to hear her instructions. Slightly nodded that he understood and joked, "So do I get a horse?" Violet put a finger up to her mouth, "If there's someone who wants to be the horse?"

"How about you, Curly, since I know you're definitely not going to want to speak in front of everyone." Peter offered him. Curly turned red, but nodded. He got up and stood next to Slightly.

"Hey, Curly, horses are usually on the ground, you know, even if they are as noble as you." Slightly suggested smiling as Curly blushed even more of a beet red. He kneeled down.

"Hey, Slightly, princes usually sit on the horse, you know, even if it is a prince, like you." Marie mimicked.

Slightly frowned, but sat lightly on Curly's back so he wouldn't kill the poor younger boy. Curly was not just three years younger than Slightly, because Slightly was not heavy, just older and more built, but he was a skinny kid.

"That's enough," Violet quieted the both of them. "Now, where was I? Oh yes, a prince on a white horse was stopped next to the river, not too far away from where Aurora was peeking out." Marie peeked out again as Curly struggled to crawl a little closer to her under Slightly's weight. "The prince hopped off of his horse to let the poor thing get a drink, as they had been riding hard all morning to get to the kingdom in time. The prince's father said he would be meeting his soon-to-be wife in a few days, when she came back to the palace from her vacation, and he was to be there when she arrived." Slightly got off Curly and Curly sat down, pretending to take a drink from the little river.

"What am I supposed to do, Jack?" Slightly asked Curly, "I'm not even old enough to get married, and neither is she. Father told me she's only just sixteen, and I'm only sixteen, as well."

Curly stared dumbly at him, as a horse would do, and Slightly kept talking. "I shouldn't have to marry someone I don't want to anyways. I don't even know her, so how am I to love her?"

Marie was listening to 'the prince' and she took a step forward, so she wasn't all the way hidden by a tree, just enough so she could see his face if he turned. "I wish I could have some time to spend with her before I meet her formally, so I know who she is. My wedding vows would be a bunch of lies if I know nothing about her." Slightly said, pacing along the side of the make believe river.

He saw Marie, pulled out his sword and grabbed her arm all in one motion, "Who are you and why are you spying on me?"

"I'm – I'm Aurora." Marie gulped. "And I wasn't spying, I was hiding."

"What were you hiding from?" Slightly asked, still holding the dagger to her throat.

"You," Marie said. "I live here, and I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, so it's me who should be holding a knife to your throat, shouldn't it?"

Slightly put the sword back in its sheath, "Sorry. That was rude. My name is Teddy."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you, Teddy." Marie curtsied and shook his hand.

"The rest of Aurora's free day was spent with the disguised prince. Teddy didn't tell her he was a prince because he didn't want her to treat him any differently than she would a normal man." Violet said. "When it began to get dark, Aurora said she'd better be getting back to her house for dinner before her uncles came looking for her. The prince said he would come tomorrow night to see her, if it was alright with her. She said she would love to see him again. He kissed her hand and rode off on his horse."

Neither Marie nor Slightly moved. Violet looked at them, "Hello? I said: he kissed her hand and rode off on his horse." Slightly looked over at Marie who was biting her lip, and looked away again. "Maybe we should finish this tomorrow night," Violet suggested, "I'm wicked tired."

Ethan understood what she meant and yawned, "Yeah, me too. I want to be awake for the ending, and it still has a while to go, so maybe we should wait until tomorrow night. You know, spread out the story a little for us."

Peter didn't understand what they were doing, but he agreed with separating the two halves of the stories, "Yes, we'll finish it tomorrow. Go to bed, Boys, and Marie and Violet and Ethan."

Marie sat where she was, and so did Slightly, but when everyone else started going to their beds he whispered in her ear, "I'm sorry," and got in his bed.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Eight**

Marie smiled, she was so glad their little spat had finally ended, and she hopped up, picked up Violet so unexpectedly that the poor little girl barely had time to realize what was happening before she was spun about in the air, and placed down on the bed. Violet blinked several times and gasped, "Marie, you scared me!" and then began to laugh.

"Sorry, Vi." Marie smiled, and tackled Ethan from behind because he was still talking to Whittle and Curly. "Time for bed, Ethan."

"Whoa!" Ethan said as Marie dragged him to his bed, right next to her and Violet's. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing, what do you mean?" Marie smiled devilishly as she tucked him under the tattered, but cleaned, cotton sheet and fuzzy green blankets laid out on his bed.

"Oh, I get it, it's late, and you get a little tipsy when it's late." Ethan shook his head. "Goodnight. I love you." He smiled and shut his eyes.

"'Night. I love you, too." Marie kissed his forehead and hopped into bed with Violet.

"Did you make up with the secret past Lost Boy?" Violet whispered so only Marie heard her.

"Don't call him that, but, yes, we did." Marie whispered again.

"Oh how I love these things!" Violet shivered with excitement. She was always happy about everything, unless it was something truly awful.

"You're so funny, Vi." Marie pushed Violet's soft curls out of her eyes and behind her little ear.

"I know." Violet agreed, "Well, I guess I should go to sleep now, because I don't want to be a grouch tomorrow, like you always say I act like when I don't get enough sleep."

"Okay, sweetie." Marie pulled the blankets up and cuddled them around both her and her little sister.

"What are we going to do tomorrow?" Violet yawned.

"I guess we're scoping out the Boys' new place unless you want me to take you to do something else." Marie saw the look on Violet's face, "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing." Violet hid her smile under the blankets. "We'll talk tomorrow. Goodnight, I love you, see you in the morning."

"'Night, love you, see you in the morning." Marie gave Violet a little kiss on the cheek and rolled over to sleep. A minute later she heard a chorus of goodnights from the Boys:

"Goodnight, Lost Boys." Peter said.

"Goodnight, Peter." The Boys called back.

"Goodnight, Marie and Violet and Ethan," Peter added.

"Goodnight, Marie and Violet and Ethan," The Boys said too.

"Goodnight, everyone." Marie and Ethan and Violet called back.

Marie rolled over, hanging an arm over her little sister's waist as she always did when Violet had had a bad dream back at the orphanage. Marie fell asleep finally, after a while of lying awake and staring into the darkness, thinking, about nothing in particular, but thinking all the same. About the kitten she found and wanted to bring home as her very own pet when she was eleven, but being denied by Ms. Winglet. And about the time she tried to run away, with Ethan and Violet last year, and join the circus as a singer, or dancer, or story teller, or even an acrobat if she could've learned, but they decided just to watch the circus and not join it so they could eat dinner later that night instead of being deprived for their lack of good judgment. And last, just before she drifted off to sleep she remembered the box she brought that had belonged to her mother, and how she always used to try and sneak a peek at what was inside, but could never open it before Ms. Winglet caught her. Well, now she had the box, and she would open it as soon as it was morning.

Marie awoke only a few hours later from the whining and moaning of her sister. She tried to shake her awake, but Peter was by her side and grabbed her arm to stop her. "Shh." He whispered, "She's having a night fright."

"I know that, that's why I was waking her up." Marie explained.

"You can't. This isn't an ordinary nightmare, it was sent to her by the evil person who's trying to find us." Peter said.

"Why would he be sending a bad dream to my sister? I mean, we just got here, how does he know who we are?" Marie looked worried.

"He sends it to a place, not a person, but it just happens to start with the youngest first. They have a vision about something, I'm not quite sure, no one remembers when they wake up, they only remember seeing blurs of people, children, I think."

"Wait, so this has happened before?" Marie wondered.

"Yes, every night for the past two days, that's when they started. First to have one was Quickie, and next the twins, and then Whittle, Curly, Tootles, Nibbs, Slightly, and me. So we guessed about it going from youngest to oldest."

"If it's only happened a few times, how could all of you have had one?"

"It sends it from one person to another. You'll see, soon Quickie will be squirming."

"When will it stop?"

"In a minute, don't be scared."

"I'm not." Marie began. "I just don't understand."

"Neither do we, but I plan to find out soon." Peter promised.

Violet started whining again, she made a muffled scream and began to cry softly. Marie looked at her and back to Peter, "Why is she crying? What is happening to her?"

"She's going to wake up in a second, you'll see." Peter said. And sure enough, a few seconds later Violet stopped wiggling around and opened her eyes.

"I had a bad dream, Marie." She whined, sitting up and burying her head in Marie's chest.

"Shh, baby, it's alright now." Marie was petting the back of Violet's head, hushing her sobbing. "Now tell me what happened in your dream?"

"I don't really know." Violet lie back down and put her head on her pillow. She closed her eyes again, "I remember it being cold, and I felt the wind blowing outside. I was inside, I know that, but the walls were paper thin, like, there was no use of them because the wind came right through. And there were tons of children. They were crying and moaning of hunger. They looked like they hadn't eaten in days. Then I heard footsteps coming and I pretended to sleep like the others did, huddling around the rest of them to keep warm. A bad man came in, you could feel the evil radiating off his skin, he was scary, Marie, really scary. He pulled a few of us out of the room and into this darker, even colder room than before. He made us sit down in these chairs with hand locks, but the ties were so big we could pull our hands right out, but we didn't because he would have hurt us. And then he left us locked in there, I don't know what for, but he left. And then I woke up."

"She's the first to remember all of it. Some of the others remembered bits and pieces, but never that much." Peter commented.

"Yeah, well, I would rather her forget this than remember something that awful." Marie hugged Violet and told her to go back to sleep, that the dream was over, and she would have a good dream now. Then she heard a cry from across the dark room.

"That must be Quickie." Peter said. "Now we have to listen to all their crying for the rest of the night. There's no use in trying to get back to sleep because I have to be there when they wake up, or they'll come and wake me up." Peter was complaining.

"You go back to sleep." Marie pushed him back to his own bed. "I'll take care of the poor guys."

"Are you sure?" Peter asked.

"Yes." Marie nodded. "Just go to sleep, Peter."

"You sure act like a mother." Peter smiled.

"Someone has to, you Boys need a mother." Marie said and walked quickly to the littlest Boy's bed. She sat by his side and waited until he woke up. "Are you okay, Quickie?"

"I just had a bad dream, that's all." Quickie said. "Where's Peter?"

"I told him I'd take care of all of you. He told me about the dreams." Marie said. "Go back to sleep, now, everything's fine."

"Okay." Quickie curled up under his blankets and fell back asleep.

Marie went around from Boy to Boy, comforting them when they awoke. The only real challenge was when the twins had their nightmare, because one had his head at the top of the bed, and the other had his feet there, so Marie went back and forth from Barky to Hoppy. Whittle was easy, but next came Ethan, and Marie wanted so much to wake him up so he wouldn't have to see the bad dream. She knew it was selfish just to feel bad for her brother and sister, but she did want to wake up all of the Boys too, she knew Peter would get angry though, and she wasn't sure what the Boys would do yet.

Ethan woke up and hugged Marie, "I had a nightmare, Marie!"

"I know, honey, but it's alright now." Marie said, "Try to go back to sleep." Ethan nodded and went back to bed.

Then Curly started his bad dream and Marie rushed to his side. She was getting drowsy from all the running around. She waited until he awoke. This one didn't go very well. He turned red when he realized she was next to him. "Sorry, Curly, I know you're shy. Are you okay now?" He nodded silently. "Well, I'm sorry to embarrass you, but I wanted to let Peter sleep."

"It's okay." He whispered. "Thank you."

"Oh, you're so sweet. Goodnight, Curly." Marie touched his forehead and headed to Tootles's bed.

While sitting beside his bed, she hoped he wouldn't react the same way. If Curly and Tootles were embarrassed to see Marie when they woke up, what would Nibbs and Slightly and Peter do?

Marie shouldn't have even worried about Tootles feeling awkward, he awoke looking a little frightened, but when he saw her face he smiled, "Hello, Marie. Taking Peter's place for a while?"

"Yes, I thought I'd take care of you guys so he could sleep." Marie nodded.

"That's good. He needs some help. You can't be a father without a mother, and we haven't had one since Wendy was here. Are you going to be our mother, too?" Tootles asked. Marie looked at him, and started breathing like she couldn't catch her breath. "Oh no," Tootles sat up.

"What's happening?" Marie's head started to spin, and she felt like she was going to faint.

"You're next for the dream, and you aren't asleep." Tootles looked worried.

"What – does – that – mean?" Marie forced herself to keep breathing.

"It happened to Peter before. Don't worry, you're just going to pass out and have the dream, and then wake up again. I don't think it hurts too much more than having a normal dream." Tootles said, still looking worried himself, which made Marie worried. "I'll wake Peter and the rest of them."

"No!" Marie shook her head; she could feel herself leaving the room. "Don't wake anyone else up, just let them sleep, and…and, well don't wake anyone else up. I'll be fine."

"Alright, I won't wake anyone up." Tootles said, and that was the last thing Marie saw, before everything went dark.

The dream was the same as what Violet described in the beginning. After the man came in, Marie tried to fight him, she tried to pull away so she wouldn't have to go in the dark room, but he kicked her in the ribs so she fell and the side of her face slapped the ground hard, and then dragged her into the room and locked her up in the chair. Marie had been brought alone. She thought she was going to die, but then the man came back and started asking her questions that she refused to answer. She looked at her feet, and saw that they were her own, she was still her, but in a different place. The man grabbed her face roughly and pulled hers close to his own; he stank of alcohol and sweat. He asked her the question again, but Marie couldn't hear what he said, she only saw his lips moving, but no sound came out. She shook her head, and the horrid man pulled her hair so hard she thought he was ripping her scalp from her head.

Marie screamed and woke up, breathing in short, gasping breaths. Tootles was kneeling beside her, and he looked relieved when she sat up. "You were gone for longer than usual. What did you do? Why did you scream?" he asked her.

"I was? Well, I fought that disgusting guy, and he hurt me, so I screamed, but I didn't know you could control what happened in your dreams. I thought it just happened the way it was going to happen. I mean, all of you had the same dream," Marie tried to understand what happened.

"I guess you're different." Tootles suggested. There was the sound of sheets being rumpled and Tootles looked over, "Looks like Nibbs is all ready for you." He smiled and got back in his bed. "It's not the best dream, and I guess yours was even worse, make sure you tell Peter about it later, but now you know it's best to go with it and get it other with."

"Yeah, you're right." Marie said. "Well, I better go see Nibbs."

"Goodnight, Marie."

"Goodnight, Tootles." Marie went over to Nibbs to wait for him to awake from the nightmare. Now that she knew how they felt, she wanted to be able to wake them all up, but then they would just pass out, and that was far worse, so she sat through Nibbs's whining and tried not to listen too much.

Nibbs soon woke up, as did all the rest before him, and Marie thought she was beginning to get the pattern. He looked at her and frowned, looking confused, "Marie?"

Marie looked behind her and back at him, "Yeah…"

"Sorry, you looked different for a second." Nibbs looked closer at her face, "When did you get that huge bruise on the side of your face? I don't think I saw it before."

"What?" Marie touched the left side of her face, her eyes going wide.

"What's the matter?" Nibbs asked.

"Well, in my nightmare, I fought back, like the rebel I am, and the man kicked me to the floor, and I smacked my face on the stone floor…but that was…just a dream…it can't be the reason I have a bruise. That…doesn't make any sense." Marie shook her head. Her hand was still resting on her left cheek bone. Now that she thought about it, she did feel it throbbing.

"That is weird." Nibbs agreed. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Marie guaranteed. She heard a sound of despair from the bed next to Nibbs.

"That'll be Slightly." Nibbs rolled his eyes. "Listen to him." Marie listened to him, it sounded like he was struggling. Nibbs looked back at Marie, "I think he fights back, too. Maybe I should do that, it sounds like he's having a lot of fun!"

"Go to sleep, Nibbs." Marie pushed the shirtless Lost Boy's head back down on his pillow.

"What did I do?" He laughed.

"Just go to sleep," Marie joined in.

"Alright, alright, I'm sleeping, see?" Nibbs put his head down and pretended to snore obnoxiously.

"Shh!" Marie giggled. She went over to Slightly's bed and waited for him to wake up.

Marie was having second thoughts about this, but she didn't know why. She was sitting on the edge of a boy's bed. The only people she's ever done that for was the boys at the orphanage, but all of them were younger than her, and here she was sitting on the bed that belonged to a boy who was older than her, who also happened to be having a nightmare at the moment. If this wasn't weird, she didn't know what was. Maybe she should just let him wake up on his own and sneak back to her own bed. He probably wouldn't care, they have been living on their own for their whole lives, and they were used to it. But she'd feel bad if she did that to him, so she sat there biting her lip, trying to figure out a way for this not to seem weird. What had made her comfortably sitting on Nibb's bed, and not on Slightly's? Marie glanced down at him and sucked in her breath. She ran back to her bed.

Violet woke up when she jumped on the bed and asked sleepily, "What are you doing, Marie?"

"Nothing," Marie replied.

"Have they all finished having their nightmares yet?" Violet sat up on her elbows.

"Um…yeah." Marie lied, looking back to the shadows where Slightly's bed was.

Violet stared Marie down, "You're lying, and I know it. Slightly is still having his nightmare." Marie rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, I'll go with you." Violet shook her head and stood up. She took Marie's hand and dragged her back to Slightly.

Marie stood, oddly out of place, at the corner of his bed, while Violet, on the other hand, was sitting near his head and looking down at him. She looked back over and Marie looking scared, "Why is he breathing so weird?"

Marie frowned, "I don't know."

"Come here." Violet waved. Marie went over and bent down to hear him breathing. He didn't seem to be breathing weird to her. Violet pulled her closer to his face and said, "Listen."

"I am listening, honey, and it sounds perfectly normal to me." Marie said just as Slightly opened his eyes. Her face was only a few inches away from his, but she was looking at Violet and she didn't know he was awake yet. Violet smiled and ran away. "What?" Marie asked.

"What are you doing?" Slightly questioned and Marie jumped back a few feet.

Marie thought about this for a second. If she told him the truth he would think she was weird, but she didn't have anything to lie about, so she said, "I…was just trying to see…well, hear…you…breathing?" She ended it like a question.

Slightly sat up, "You were seeing if I was…breathing?"

"No, I mean, I knew you were breathing, but Violet said you were breathing funny and she told me to listen, so that's what I was doing." She paused and looked up at him, as if hoping he would just understand what she said, because she certainly didn't.

Slightly blinked, "…Oh…I see…"

"Yeah, well, you seem fine, so…I'm gonna go back to bed now." Marie said walking away, "'Night." She ran back to her bed and grabbed Violet's shoulders. "You are such a brat, Violet! You did that on purpose? What was that supposed to do, huh? I hate having a little sister!" Marie yelled at her. She was sure she'd woken every one of the Boys up so she yelled at them too, "Just go to sleep!"

Violet started crying and when Marie tried to say she was sorry, Violet screamed, "I'm sleeping with Ethan!" and ran to his bed.

"I'm sorry, Vi," Marie spoke to the darkness. Then she heard a shout of pain and she jumped up. She'd forgotten all about Peter. She ran over to his bed to find him panting and wet with sweat. "What happened?" She asked him when he looked up at her.

"I…he…" Peter stopped for a minute. Slightly came over, followed by Nibbs and Tootles, but none of the others came over to see what was wrong. When they saw Marie kneeling beside Peter, they stayed back a few feet.

"Go on, Peter, tell us what happened." Tootles encouraged.

"He…" Peter looked astonished, "killed me."


	9. Chapter Nine

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Nine**

"What do you mean he killed you?" Marie asked Peter, backing away from him a little.

"In my dream," Peter explained. "He brought me to that dark room, and – and he killed me."

"Why did he kill you?" Tootles asked dumbly.

"Because he doesn't like him, stupid," Nibbs said. "That is the reason why he's sending the dreams to us."

"No, that might not be why." Slightly spoke up and everyone looked at him. "Well, I know every old person in Neverland hates Peter, no offense, but I don't think someone would just send these dreams to us for no reason, they have to mean something."

"You don't know for sure that it's not just another obsessive freak, like Hook, who wants Peter Pan dead just because of who he is. Hook is proof of that, I mean, there isn't really any other reason for him to hate Peter, he did start it by…well, you all know." Tootles looked over at Peter and decided not to say what he was going to.

"What? I don't know." Marie asked. "You don't have to tell me, but it would be nice to know what everyone else knows, if you know what I mean." Marie winked, smiling at Nibbs who was standing right next to her.

"Well, it's not exactly something Peter likes to talk about, and he's forbidden us to use her name ever again." Tootles went on hesitantly.

"Its fine, you can tell her." Peter said.

"The whole deal with Peter and Hook started the minute Peter got here." Nibbs started.

"Yeah, Hook saw him and freaked out. He thought it was his island and challenged Peter to a sword fight. That's when Peter cut off Hook's right hand." Tootles took over telling the tale.

"Ever since then Hook's been trying to kill Peter." Slightly added, "That is, if that crocodile hadn't finally got him, he would be."

"I'll finish it." Peter said. "I had a sister, she was four years younger than me, and her name was Hilary. She was the only person I ever really loved. I went back for her when she turned ten, but when Hook found out who she was he took her from me. And when I went to get her, he made her walk the plank and she drowned because I wasn't fast enough." Peter looked down, ashamed of himself.

"Oh, Peter," Marie wanted to touch his arm to comfort him, but she was afraid of what he would do. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, you had nothing to do with it." Peter said, but he took her hand for a minute when she reached out to touch his shoulder.

"It wasn't your fault, though, Peter." Slightly said.

"Yes it was. I should have been there for her." Peter answered. "But I don't want to get into this, let's get back to what we were talking about before."

"Okay, so tomorrow you'll have some of us scout for a place to build our new hideout, and a few of us will try to come up with a plan to get rid of this guy." Nibbs decided.

"Alright, we'll try that." Peter nodded.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at Marie. She had been thinking about that box of her mother's and was getting more curious by the minute. She had to find out what was in it. So she jumped up and turned to walk away, then turned back around.

Marie frowned, "Hang on, I'll be right back." She sprinted out of the room and returned with her duct-taped box. "This was my mother's." She said. "And I remember when I was little she put this together for me to have when I was older. I never thought about it then, but now that I think about it, she acted as if she knew she was going to die."

"What does this have to do with me dying in my dream?" Peter asked.

"Just stop being the conceited boy that you are for one minute and let me have the attention so I can try and explain this." Marie was struggling with the tape, it was everywhere and she couldn't seem to get it off. "Do any of you have a…" Slightly cut the tape off the box with his knife for her. "Thanks. " She pulled the lid off and threw it on the ground when she saw what was in it she sat on the ground.

"What's wrong, Marie?" Tootles asked. Marie didn't even hear him.

"Just give her a minute," Slightly said.

Marie took out a dusty leather book that was her mother's diary from when she was younger. Marie knew because she found it in the attic one day when they were cleaning, and her mom took it away from her. Marie didn't know it was to put it in here. She opened the cover and saw, written neatly on the first page, her mother's signature when she was a little younger than herself right now: Wendy Miora Angela Darling

Marie touched her mother's name. She flipped through the pages, not quite reading the words, but just looking. Then she got to the last page: I have never felt so much like a child. When they Boys told me they were leaving I refused to look or speak to any of them, and especially not Peter when he arrived, thought I wanted to give him a hug. After they went back to Neverland with Peter, I cried and I refused to come out of my room for dinner. I felt bad shutting Mother out, and I will apologize later, but I didn't want to see her discouraged face. She is just as upset as I am and she loved every single one of those Boys. How could he do that to us? The Boys were fine here! They loved it, but Peter Pan cannot live on his own, and he couldn't function on his own, so he had to come back and take the Boys back to Neverland. I don't understand why they didn't just say no to him. I would have, but that is only because I thought I was in love with him once. Well, that was just a stupid dream and I don't even think I really was, but I'm so confused about everything. I thought I liked another Boy who Peter just had to take away too. Slightly promised even if Peter came back he wouldn't go with him. He said he was going to stay with me. He made me so mad today. He didn't even say goodbye, he just left like the rest of them did. Maybe I should give up on love, because it has certainly given up on me.

Wendy Darling

"Oh my god," Marie breathed. She looked up at Slightly. "I don't believe this." Then she looked over at Peter. She shook her head.

"What's wrong? Let me see." Nibbs said. Marie tilted the page so he and Tootles could read it, but when they were about to say something she shut the book and put it down beside the box.

"If you say one word I will go home," Marie threatened. "Please, just don't say anything." She added when Nibbs opened his mouth to speak.

"I won't say anything, I promise." Tootles said, "And neither will he."

"Good." Marie whispered. She saw Slightly and Peter exchange looks out of the corner of her eye. She looked back at them and shook her head once more. Then she dug through the rest of the box.

The next things were two more journals, which Marie put aside for now, because she wasn't sure she could handle much more about her mother's personal life. If she found out her mom had been in love with every single Lost Boy at one point or another, she would scream. So she took out an old photograph book. On the first few pages there were just picture from after her mother got married and had her and Ethan. Most of them were her and her mother, and Ethan as a baby and young child. There was not one single picture of her father in there. She flipped ahead to the next few pages, but it went from Marie's childhood, to her mother's childhood. There was a family picture of Grandma, Grandpa, Mom, Uncle Jon, and Uncle Michael, also Nana and Aunt Millicent snuck in there. There were more pictures of just Jon, Michael and Wendy. Then Marie turned the page and saw a picture of all the Boys, except for Peter and Slightly, crowded around her mother's mother. They were smiling at the camera, and they looked a little younger than they were now. Marie guessed it was the night they were taken in by her grandparents. Then there was a picture of Slightly and her mother's Aunt Millicent just below it. Marie flipped to the next page which was a picture of Peter and her mother, and Marie smiled, they looked so happy together, and yet in their eyes there was sadness. This must have been when Peter came back to say goodbye to her. Wendy had told Marie all about that. Then below that was Jon, Michael and all of the Boys dressed up in pirates' costumes for a story they were performing for Marie's grandparents. The last picture was of Slightly, smiling, with his arm around a blushing Wendy, they were both around Marie's age now, so it must have been just before the Boys came back to Neverland. Marie snapped the book shut and put it on the ground beside the journals.

Marie rubbed her temples; she was beginning to get a headache from all of this. She noticed the Boys were quiet this whole time and she wondered what they were doing. She looked up to see Nibbs and Tootles looking nervous. Marie raised her eyebrows at them, but they smiled falsely and pretended to talk to each other. Marie picked up the photo album and placed it back into the box, she would look at the rest of the things later. She went to pick up her mother's diaries and found only two where she'd put them, one was missing. Marie's eyes shot over to Peter's bed, where Slightly and him were reading it.

"Give it back!" Marie burst and ripped the book from Slightly's hands. She threw it in the box and put the lid back on. She glared and Peter and Slightly. "Go back to sleep, and let the poor Boys sleep late tomorrow, they had a bad night." Marie directed to Peter, but she smiled at Tootles and Nibbs. "Goodnight, Boys." She touched Tootle's cheek and Nibbs's shoulder and went back to her bed, where she found Violet sprawled across it.

She pushed the little girl over gently; happy her sweet little sister came back and didn't hold a grudge, and squeezed into the bed next to her. Marie kissed Violet's forehead and whispered, "I love you, baby."

Violet opened her eyes and sniffled, "I love you too." She cuddled closer and went back to sleep.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Ten**

Marie woke up thinking it must still be the middle of the night because it was so dark, but then she remembered they were sleeping underground in a tree, and she better get up to see what time it was. Violet was still asleep, sucking her thumb. Marie looked to the bed next to theirs and saw Ethan asleep still, too. So she tiptoed out of the room and saw Tootles scrubbing the dishes.

He looked up when she walked in and smiled, "Good morning, Marie."

"Good morning, Tootles." Marie sat down beside him and picked up a pan, "I'll help."

"Thank you." Tootles handed her a sponge.

She started to wash the pan and hummed a little tune as she went. She just sat in silence for a while, forgetting everything else but the pan she was cleaning, as she used to do when she was set to work at the orphanage and she would pretend she was really at home doing chores for her mom. So she looked up a little startled when she went to reach for another dish and found Tootle's hand there too. She let him have it and she took a different one. "So, did my mom have a little fling with you, too?"

"No, but I think she had a crush on Nibbs for a while." Tootles answered.

"Oh, well she just had all the fun, didn't she?" Marie said glumly and scrubbed furiously at the dish she was holding.

"Marie, you can't be angry at your mom, she…" Tootles started.

"She's dead, I know." Marie interrupted. "But if she was supposed to be in love with Peter, she wouldn't have had a little crush on Slightly and Nibbs even if she was mad at him."

"She was just being a kid, like you are right now." Tootles said. "And I wasn't going to say she's dead, I was going to say she was just a girl."

"Tootles, you don't understand. You're only thirteen, and you're a boy. Boys just don't get things like this, but I'll tell you, my mom can have whoever she wants, because I'm never falling in love." Marie looked away.

"I'm sorry I'm a boy then." Tootles smirked. "You're not at all like Wendy. She was sweet."

"Hey, thank you for not calling me sweet!" Marie playfully slapped him.

"I didn't mean it like that!" Tootles laughed. "I meant she was shy, she didn't really talk, she was proper. Well, she wasn't that way in Neverland, but once she got home she was."

"That's the way young ladies are supposed to act." Marie told him. "But since I didn't have a female role model I will never be a lady, as Miss Winglet used to tell me. I honestly couldn't care less."

"You're a lady. You might not sit with your hands in your laps and your head down, and walk a few steps behind males and never say your opinions like a 'real lady' is supposed to, but you are one, believe me." Tootles assured her.

"Thank you, Tootles, you're a real gentlemen. None of the other Boys are as sweet as you." Marie smiled.

"So you're not upset about your mother anymore? Because, you should know, it only lasted for a few days between them. A week before we left she told him she thought he was beginning to look like a handsome young man, and then she sort of guessed he liked her. I'm not sure what the whole story was, like, I don't know if he liked her back. But I know he thought of her as a sister, because he's told me that before. And when he told her he wouldn't leave was one day after school when she wanted to make sure he'd be there for her all the time, and I don't think he knew she meant it like that. That picture you saw, I'm sorry I looked, that was one Aunt Millicent took of them on her fiftieth birthday just four days before we left." Tootles rushed to explain to her before any of the other Boys woke up and came in the room.

"Yeah, well, I guess I can't really be upset with her since she is dead and she was my mother. As for Peter and Slightly, I guess I can't really blame them either, because I wasn't yet born, but if they do anything now I can be mad at them, right?" Marie sighed.

"No, not unless you love one of them and don't want them to be in love with anyone but you, so do you?" Tootles accused.

"No, I most certainly do not. So I'm not mad at either of them." Marie said.

"I think the Boys are waking up. I better get started on breakfast." Tootles stacked the plates on the table and started to prepare breakfast. Why don't you wake up Violet and you two can go get ready by the river, so the rest of the Boys can, you know, get ready here."

"Oh, right, right, right. I'll go now." Marie went back into the bedroom and found herself in darkness again.

She strained her eyes to see where her bed was and headed over to where she saw Violet's little body curled up in a tight ball with the blankets wrapped around her. When Marie sat down next to her she stretched out her legs and whispered, "Marie, where did you go?"

"I was helping Tootles with the dishes." Marie replied. "Is anyone else awake?"

"I think some of them were moving around and a few got up and went to others' beds to talk." Violet informed her.

"Okay. We're going to go to the river to wash up and get ready. So come on." Marie said.

Violet got out of bed and rubbed at her eyes while Marie shook out the blankets and made the bed. "Should I wake the rest of the Boys up, or leave them?" Violet asked her.

"Hmm…we'll just tell Tootles to wake them up on our way out. Grab your bag." Marie said and headed back out the door.

"I'm coming." Violet ran after her, but when she got to the door she turned around and yelled, "Wake up, Boys, its morning!" And then smiled like an angel when Marie looked at her.

"Violet, you are just like me." Marie laughed.

"How come?" Violet asked.

"Because I was about to do that same thing," Marie said. She turned to Tootles and questioned, "So, like I asked yesterday: how do you get out of this place?"

Tootles laughed, "The door, of course." And he pointed to the corner where there was a door.

"Oh, yeah, that would probably be the way out." Marie said, "But how did you guys get out yesterday? That was definitely not the way."

"We climbed up the ladder over there, and there's another one over there, and then there's two more exits we hardly ever use that are in the back of our bedroom." Tootles pointed out the other places.

"Wow, you guys are pretty good." Marie nodded. "We'll take the door, though. See you later. And you better make sure they're all up and getting ready, because they better be wearing clothes when we come back in here." Marie laughed.

"Eww! That would be disgusting!" Violet stuck out her tongue and giggled.

"Ha, I'll make sure they're awake." Tootles said.

Marie and Violet pushed open the bark door and squinted at the new day. It was bright and sunny and warm. Marie shut the door behind them and pushed through the bushes to the little river.

"We can't get dressed in the middle of everything!" Violet declared.

"No, we can't. We'll go over here where the trees block everything, and no one will come out. The Boys are all inside, and they won't come out, so you have nothing to worry about." Marie said and they went into the shelter of the group of trees. "Is that okay?"

"Yeah, this is good. If we can't see out, then no one can see in." Violet said. She took off her shoes and put her toes in the water, and she pulled it quickly back out. "It's freezing!"

"You'll get used to it." Marie took off her shoes too and dipped her feet in. "It's not that cold." She commented.

"Fine," Violet jumped in the water and came up, teeth chattering. "Yes it is!" She splashed Marie so Marie got in too.

"You were right, it is a little chilly." Marie got goose bumps on her arms. "Hurry and wash your hair and everything so we can get out." Marie ducked under the water and scrubbed her hair clean.

"Marie…" Violet sounded close to tears and Marie whipped around to see if she was alright. She looked fine, but she was making an awful face and was staring at the water up the stream a little.

"What's the matter?" Marie swam over to her little sister and tried to follow her gaze to see what she was looking at.

"What is that?" Violet asked as if hoping for an answer even though she already knew.

Marie finally found what Violet was shock frozen staring at. It was a faerie, blue and cold, lying face down in the water and Marie knew the instant she looked at it that it was dead. "Sweetie, close your eyes." Marie ordered and Violet clapped her hands over her eyes.

The faerie floated past them and Marie picked it up gently. She turned her over and looked away when she saw the beautiful faerie's silver eyes open and staring at her. Marie carried her to the edge of the stream and placed her down on the soft dirt. She turned back to Violet and said softly, "It's okay; you can open your eyes now."

"Why did she die?" Violet asked. She was still at the age of questions and most of the time Marie didn't know how to answer them.

This was one of them, "I don't know, baby, but don't you worry about it, because I'll tell Peter and he'll find out what happened to her. Come on, let's go back and lay in the sun, or these clothes will never dry." Marie pulled at her wet dress which was sticking to her shoulders and making her itchy.

"I think you packed me some pants and shirts, right?" Violet dunked under the water for a second and came back up again.

"Yep, I packed all of us some extra clothes." Marie said. "We left our stuff downstream a bit more, I think." Marie pointed to their bags a little ways away.

"Oh no, my ribbon fell out." Violet touched the top of her head where there used to be a bow.

"I see it." Marie spotted the blue ribbon and dove after it. She brought it back to Violet and tied it around on her head again.

She felt something bump into her back and she pushed it away, thinking it was a little stick, but it was soft. She turned around slowly, dreading what she would see. The river was filled with dead faeries. Marie gulped, she felt like throwing up. She had to get them out of there before Violet noticed, but Violet turned around to see what Marie was doing.

Her mouth dropped open and she made a strangled sound. A faerie floated by her and rubbed against her arm. She let out a scream of pure terror. Marie held her frightened sister against her tightly. There had to be more than thirty dead faeries floating down the stream right by Marie and Violet. They were surrounded by them and couldn't get out without having to touch them. A male faerie went by and got tangled in Marie's hair. This time she screamed and pushed the faerie away from her. Violet took a breath and screamed too, and this time neither of them stopped. They kept screaming until they saw Peter and the rest of the Lost Boys run to the stream and stop dead in their tracks.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Eleven**

Marie stared at them, wishing they would do something to get them out of this water so she wouldn't look stupid, but it was Violet who first spoke, no, screamed, "Get me out of here! Please!" She was shaking from crying by this point, and Marie lifted her up and held her close to calm her shivers.

Peter was giving the Lost Boys orders and they ran off to obey. Peter called out to them, "Come out of there, Marie."

Marie wanted to say that she couldn't and she was scared, but she didn't want him and the others to think she was just a scared girly, so she slowly made her way across the water, holding the struggling Violet who was trying not to touch the water, and weaved her way around the faeries. She finally felt the grass beneath her feet and she sighed with relief, dropping her little sister to the ground. Violet was still in shock and she turned to stare at the water, whimpering as if she was in pain, as she always did when something else was hurting, she was just that way.

"What happened?" Peter demanded, grabbing Marie's shoulders.

Marie gaped at him, "You think we did this? Peter, you're crazy! We were about to get out and we saw them floating down the river." Marie shook her head. She couldn't believe he was as foolish as to think they had anything to do with this.

Peter let go of her, "I'm sorry, I was just surprised. Nothing like this has ever happened before. We have to find out what happened." He directed this comment to Nibbs, Slightly and Tootles who returned from their errand.

"So I guess this means we aren't gonna be finding a home today, right, Peter?" Tootles questioned.

"No, we'll still send some of the Boys to scout out an area, but you three are coming with me." Peter said, gazing at the water. There weren't anymore new faerie bodies, but the other ones were still making their way down the river.

"Okay, should we tell the others to go now?" Nibbs asked.

"Yeah, go tell them to get started, and Slightly, you bring Marie and Violet back in the hideout." Peter turned to Marie, "You two stay here, I think you've seen enough things today."

Marie frowned, "No, you aren't going to lock me up inside, I want to come, too."

"Marie, come on, maybe you should rest for a while, and we don't want you to get sick." Tootles said.

"Are you serious? I'm not going to get sick!" Marie gave an involuntary shudder, her clothes were wet and the cool air was giving her the chills. Tootles crossed his arms and Marie smiled weakly, "Okay, so I'm cold, you can't blame me, but all I need to do is get dressed in some dry clothes and I'll be fine. Just give me a minute."

"No, stay here, Marie, because if you come then Violet will have to come too, and I think she's still scared from what happened in the river." Peter gestured towards the little girl.

"Peter, stop making up excuses! Violet will be fine!" Marie burst. She grabbed Violet's hand and walked down the river to where their clothes were, and Slightly followed, thinking she had given up arguing and was going to let him bring her inside. Marie took out Violet's new clothes and handed them to her, and then she took out her own. Slightly walked over to them and Marie looked up at him. "Go tell Peter we'll be there in a minute, and don't let anyone come in here, we're getting dressed."

"What? I thought you were staying here?" Slightly's ears turned pink.

"No, I'm not! I won't be excluded from everything, so go and tell him we'll be there in a minute." Marie turned away, but she knew Slightly was still standing there. "Go, or I'll change right here."

"Okay, okay, I'll tell him." Slightly said and turned and ran away.

"What'd you do that for?" Violet asked, pulling off her wet dress.

"Do what?" Marie asked back, unbuttoning her dripping dress, letting it drop to the ground, and she stepped out of it, quickly pulling her new one over her head.

"Why were you so mean to Slightly?" Violet sat down in her dry clothes and pulled on some warm socks.

"I wasn't being mean; I just wanted him to leave so I could change. He was being a pest." Marie turned away from her sister's knowing gaze and pulled back her dripping hair and tied it up with a ribbon.

"Marie, I think there's something else you're upset about, and you don't want me to know, but you're gonna have to tell me, so spit it out." Violet stood up and put her hands on her hips.

"Okay, I'll tell you later tonight, actually, I'll show you, okay?" Marie bargained.

"Fine, but remember, I don't forget these things." Violet stuck out her finger, "Pinky promise?"

"I pinky promise," Marie interlaced her pinky around her sister's and squeezed, then let go. "Well, come on, before they leave without us."

"Are we really going with them? I mean, what are we gonna do?" Violet nearly ran to keep up with Marie's quick stride.

"I don't know, but we're going, too." Marie said, shifting the bag of clothes from one shoulder to the other.

Peter, Nibbs, Tootles and Slightly were waiting right where they left them, and Peter smiled when she dropped her bag to the ground and waited for them to speak. He warned, "Are you sure you wanna come with us? It might be dangerous."

"Of course, like I'm going to miss out on all the fun?" She smiled shyly.

"Then let's go, we have to go to the Faerie Woods and see what happened there." Nibbs told her.

"Yes, I need to speak with the Queen of the faeries." Peter nodded.

"And Tootles and I are going to check out the rest of the area." Nibbs explained as they walked, "And Slightly is going to be with you two, and you can do whatever you want."

"We'll help check out the area, too, then, because I didn't want to come for nothing." Marie offered.

"Is that okay, Peter?" Nibbs looked to their leader.

"I guess so." Peter shrugged.

Marie was so happy she'd gotten her way she almost forgot that this wasn't a mission to enjoy; it had to do with the deaths of many faeries. She smothered the smile that was about to spread across her lips and pasted a resigned look on her face as the others had adapted to. Except for Tootles who seemed to look always pleasant, which in Marie's opinion was a good thing, and also except for Slightly who seemed to always have a look of gloom or confusion on his face that Marie did not remember ever having been there when she visited those many years ago.

Violet trudged sullenly beside her big sister. Marie knew that Violet would be like this for a few days now because she wasn't used to being exposed to something so traumatic and she needed time to comprehend what had happened. Marie was going to miss her sweet, innocent Violet, so closed off towards the bad things in life, but she knew that living in Neverland would change all of that quickly, especially with this new bad guy on the loose.

"Be quiet now, we're almost there." Nibbs warned, putting his finger to his lips and then walking softer on the crunchy twigs and leaves.

Violet silently slipped her hand into Marie's and was looking wide eyed around. Marie saw that she was shaking, and not from the cold, her lips looked a little blue as well. Her skin felt warm, but there were goose bumps running up and down her arms and legs. Marie pushed back the still-damp curls from Violet's forehead and found that she was burning up. She had no idea why Violet hadn't told her she wasn't feeling well. She stopped her and knelt down on the ground, holding her younger sister about the waist.

"What's the matter with you?" Marie wondered.

Violet shook her head, looking scared, "I don't know."

"Are you sick? Why didn't you tell me?" Marie picked her up and wrapped her arms around her to keep her warm.

"I don't feel sick, but it hurts." Violet put her head down on Marie's shoulder.

"What hurts, honey, you gotta tell me what hurts." Marie rocked her.

"Everything," Violet tried to lift her head again, but fell back. Marie panicked, Violet had just fainted in her arms and she didn't know what was wrong. What was she supposed to do? She lifted her up and ran swiftly back to the Lost Boys' hideout. She slid down the hole and carried Violet into the bedroom, placing her softly on their bed and wrapping the blankets around her as tightly as she could. She left her there and paced the room, trying to think of what you were supposed to do for a person who had fainted.

She thought she'd seen a film where someone had fainted and they put a cool cloth on their head and they woke up, so she ran back outside to the stream and dipped a spare shirt into the water. She ran back around the huge tree and into the hideout once more. She walked through the doorway to the bedroom and into the dimly lit room, stopping dead in her tracks. There was a man bent over Violet, touching her forehead.

"Get away from her!" Marie yelled, and the man turned around slowly. Marie gasped at the sight of him. He was the nasty man from the nightmare. "Who are you?" She asked cautiously. She didn't know if this man was as violent as his dream version, but she took a wild guess that he probably was.

He just laughed and took a step towards her, "You must be Marie. Am I right?"

Marie nodded her head ever so slightly up and down. She didn't want him to come any closer to her. "Yes, I am."

He didn't seem to mind her fear; in fact, it looked as if he enjoyed it. "Don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you, or your sister." He added, and came closer, with each step forward he took, Marie took one back but she backed into the wall and had no where else to go. The dark man smiled triumphantly as he reached her and took her hand. He pulled it up to his face and…sniffed it? Marie was so taken aback she didn't even fight him when he pulled her back to Violet and pushed her down so she was sitting on the bed beside her sister.

Marie took this opportunity to place the cool cloth she'd gotten on her head. Violet made a noise in her not-so-sleeping 'slumber'. Marie looked up at the man from the nightmare and asked, "What did you do to her?"

"Me?" He chuckled softly. "I didn't do anything." Marie peered at the hooded man suspiciously. Why couldn't she see his face? It was all shadowy and she didn't think she wanted to know what he looked like if he took such careful precautions to hide it from her. She looked past his shoulder to the doorway and prayed the Boys would soon return. "You don't think I'd be here if they were just going to show up, do you?"

"What do you want from me?" Marie stood up, challenging him. If he was going to kill her, he might as well just get it over with.

The man looked away, "Silly girl, you don't know what you are doing. Sit back down." He pushed her down again, but she stood back up.

"No, I want to know who you are." Marie stared at his hood, since he was looking the other way.

"That is not for me to tell." He said mysteriously.

Marie was puzzled, "If you can't tell me who you are, then who can?"

He looked at her then and she saw that his eyes glowed red, and though she tried she couldn't look away, "Tell me something, Marie, daughter of Wendy."

"What?"

"What are you doing here? Do you even know?" He could have just been asking her why she wasn't out with the others, but somehow Marie knew he was talking about her being in Neverland. "Do you know what you've gotten yourself into? Are you really ready to give up your chance to live and grow old? Think of all of those things you're going to miss out on. Driving, going to college, falling in love and having a family of your own. You'll never be able to do that if you don't grow up."

"I don't want to fall in love, so I guess I'm lucky to be here." Marie swallowed.

"You can't possibly mean that." The man said incredulously. "How can you, a mere girl of only fourteen, say that you don't want to fall in love. Do you know what love is?"

"Do you?" Marie shot back. What was he trying to do, get her to go back home? Home to what, she didn't have a home?

He grabbed at her and spun her around so her back was pressed against his chest and his arm was bent across hers to keep her there. He whispered in her ear, "Too innocent," and spun her around again, dipping her back, looking to anyone who walked in at that moment that they were finishing up a ballroom dance. He leaned towards her face, looking like he was going to kiss her, but instead he forced open her mouth and sucked in air. Marie would have pushed him away if she could, but she couldn't, and it wasn't that her arms weren't free by her sides, but she could feel something being taken away from her. She saw with horror that he was sucking out some white mist that was coming from her own mouth, and she was feeling drowsier by the second.

With one last deep gulp, the dark man let her drop limply to the ground and he disappeared.


	12. Chapter Twelve

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Twelve**

Back in the Faerie Woods, the Boys were creeping through the trees to the clearing that was the Faerie Gathering. Peter turned around after checking the place out and finding it deserted and looked to Nibbs to give orders, "Okay, I need to find the Queen, so while you and Tootles check the place out I'll look for her. If any of you see any faeries ask them where the Queen is, got it?"

The three Boys nodded and it was then that Peter noticed who was not with them anymore, "Where are Marie and Violet?"

Tootles, Nibbs and Slightly looked behind them and then back at Peter guiltily. "They must have gone back to the hideout?" Nibbs offered.

Peter took a step towards Slightly and accused, "You should have been watching them! Go back and see if they're alright."

"But why do I…" Slightly began, but was interrupted.

"Go." Peter turned away and went back to searching for the Faerie Queen.

"Tell Marie I left some breakfast on the table for them." Tootles called after Slightly's retreating backside. He raised his arm that he'd heard him though.

Slightly grumbled and complained all the way back to the hideout. Why couldn't Marie just have stayed here in the first place? Peter shouldn't have let her come. She's just a girl. She doesn't even know what danger is. She might as well take her little sister and brother and go back to London. Slightly jumped down the hole and into the hideout, shaking his head as he walked through the kitchen and into the bedroom.

Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness he stopped mid-step. "Marie?" He crept closer to the place where her body lay. She looked dead. She was lying on her side, arms close to her face and her dark curls spilling over her closed eyes. Slightly bent down and shook her, "Marie?" She didn't make a noise and she didn't wake up. He felt her forehead and found it warm with fever. Her skin felt warm but she still had goose bumps, the same symptoms Marie found Violet with before, only Slightly didn't know about that.

He went to the bed to take down and pillow and a blanket so she'd be more comfortable because he didn't know what else do to, and that was when he saw Violet. She was pale and her body was stiff and cold, but she was breathing fine. What was going on? Slightly didn't know what to do with them. He struggled to lift Marie's limp body and put her down on the bed with Violet. He covered them both with the blanket and hoped they would be fine until he got back with the others.

Slightly ran down the path and back to the Faerie Gathering where Peter and Nibbs and Tootles were. They looked startled as he came panting into the clearing.

"What's up, Slight?" Nibbs asked. Peter and Tootles came over to see what the matter was as well.

"There's something wrong with Marie and Violet." Slightly said after catching his breath.

"What do you mean?" Peter demanded.

"I don't know what happened to them, but neither of them will wake up and they aren't moving." Slightly tried to explain as best he could, but he just didn't know how.

"Are they dead?" Tootles looked worried.

"No, no, they're breathing, they just won't wake up," Slightly assured him, "But I didn't know what to do."

"Okay, we have to go back then." Peter said.

"What? But Peter, we have to find out what happened here too." Nibbs reminded him.

Peter glanced around again, "They aren't here, they are just no where to be found. Not a faerie's in sight, so we might as well go back to see how the girls are doing because we aren't getting anything done here."

Nibbs nodded, "Yeah, you're right. Let's go back."

They headed back to the hideout and into the bedroom where Marie and Violet were lying where Slightly left them, but Violet was now awake. She was crying and whispering to Marie, "Please wake up, Marie, please." She looked up when the Boys came in and cried even harder, "I don't know what's wrong with her. She won't wake up. I tried."

"It's okay, Violet, she'll be fine." Tootles sat down next to Violet and let her cry on him.

"What's wrong with her?" She asked them in the squeaky voice of someone who was still trying to contain herself from crying all over again.

"We don't know, but she'll be fine. I promise." Tootles tried to calm her down, but this seemed to make her even more worried.

She worked up a fresh batch of tears and threw herself across Marie, burying her face in her chest as she would any other time. "Please don't die like Momma did. I need you still."

"She's not going to die, Violet." Slightly spoke up. "She has the same thing you just did. See, now she's cold, and before she wasn't. You were cold when I left, and now you're fine, so Marie will be fine too."

Violet stared up at him and dried her face with the blanket. "So she's only sick?"

Slightly looked at Peter to see what he should say. Peter nodded his head. "Yeah, she's only sick. She'll be fine soon. Why don't we just let her rest?"

"Want something to eat? Tootles made some great breakfast you guys missed out on." Nibbs motioned towards the door.

But Violet shook her head, "I wanna be here when she wakes up. You can leave, though."

"Peter, should we go back to the Faerie Gathering? Or meet up with the other Boys? Or just stay here?" Nibbs questioned.

Peter shook his head as if to clear it of other thoughts, "Uh…just go see how the other Boys are doing. Come get me if they found anything."

"What are you going to do?" Tootles asked.

"I'm…tired. I'm going to go back to sleep for a while." Peter pulled his gaze away from Marie's dead-like body and made his way over to his bed, lying down as if to prove to them that he was really going to sleep.

"Let's grab a snack before we go, I'm hungry." Tootles said.

"You're always hungry." Nibbs joked.

"I am not." Tootles protested.

"Are too," Nibbs said laughing.

"Fine, I guess I am." Tootles gave up. "Are you coming?"

"Slight?" Nibbs waved a hand in front of Slightly's face and Slightly nodded and followed them to the kitchen.

Violet snuggled up close to Marie and pushed the curls out of her eyes. She straightened the pillow and blankets and placed her arms on her stomach. "There you go, Marie." She smoothed Marie's curls and lay down beside her. "Wake up soon, please." She fell asleep for a few minutes, but awoke to movement next to her.

Marie was waking up. Violet sat up so fast she got a little dizzy, but she didn't even notice in all her excitement because Marie was better again. "Marie!" She lunged at her and hugged her so tight Marie couldn't breathe for a second. Then, Violet began crying again saying over and over, "I thought you were dead."

"Oh, I'm fine, sweetie. Everything's fine now." Marie rubbed Violet's back and comforted her until the little girl was almost back to normal. In fact, both girls looked perfectly normal, except for the pale skin and blank look in their eyes, but no one noticed that yet.

Marie straightened up and asked Violet, "Where are the others? Have they come back yet?"

Violet shook her curly little head, "Yes. Peter is sleeping, and the others went to find the other Lost Boys."

"Peter is sleeping?" Marie questioned. She stood up and took a few steps towards Peter's bed just to see if he was really there, and once she was satisfied that he was sleeping and no one else was in the room she whirled back around and took Violet by the elbows, "Do you know what happened before? Do you remember anything?"

Violet averted her gaze to the floor and shook her head at first, but then changed her mind and nodded cautiously.

"You have to tell me everything you remember, okay?" Marie ordered.

"Okay," Violet consented. "Well…there was a man in the woods with us before. I didn't tell you because I thought he might just go away. But he didn't. I could hear him talking to me in my head, and I thought you heard too, but you didn't. He told me I was too innocent and he was taking it away. Then I just hurt everywhere and I felt too tired to stay awake any longer. That's when you picked me up, and I don't remember anything else."

Marie made a muffled growl-type noise and clenched her fists. What she had thought all along was really true, and it didn't just happen to her, it had happened to her little sister, whom she was supposed to watch and protect. She couldn't believe she had failed so miserably at being a big sister. She calmed herself down for Violet's sake, but Violet seemed unfazed by her older sister's show. Marie said quietly, "I need to talk to Peter about this. You can go back to sleep or something if you want to."

Violet announced that she was going to get some breakfast and skipped off into the other room. Marie noted that she was acting strangely, but then again, she, herself, wasn't feeling…normal, to say the least. Marie made her way over to Peter's bed and found that he was not sleeping, but writing in a tattered old journal. She cleared her throat so as not to startle him. He looked up and shoved the journal under his pillow. He sat up and said, "You're all right now?"

"Yes," Marie answered. "But I have to warn you, 'all right' isn't as good as it might sound. The rest of you Boys are in danger. The man from the dreams is real, and he's close. He was just here, as a matter of fact. And he didn't leave empty handed…" Marie trailed off for a moment.

"What do you mean? What did he take with him?" Peter's eyes scanned the room to see if anything was out of place or missing.

"No, no, it's not something you can see." Marie explained. "As weird as this is going to sound, I think he took our innocence. Violet's and mine, I mean."

"He took your…innocence?" Peter asked incredulously. Marie nodded and he shook his head, saying, "That can't be true, you can't take away someone's innocence. It isn't even something you can take, is it?"

"That's what I thought before, but he said the same thing to Violet that he said to me. He said 'too innocent' and then he sucked this white mist from me and I can't remember any more. Neither can Violet." Marie was trying to describe what happened to Peter as best she could, but there were huge gaps in her story that she couldn't seem to fill. She just didn't know the answers.

"He sucked white mist? Marie, this is crazy. I don't understand." Peter held up his hands.

Marie got frustrated, "Neither do I, Peter, but you have to do something! All of you Boys are in danger of losing your innocence as well, and if that happens, well…I'm not exactly sure yet what will happen after that, but I'm sure it's nothing good. You have to find out some way to keep him away from the others!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. I'm thinking. I'll try and come up with something." Peter said, and then he sobered up a little more, "What about you two?"

"What about us? He took it away, there's nothing we can really do now that he has it, is there?" Marie snapped.

"That's not true. There has to be a way to get it back somehow. There always is. The bad guy never wins." Peter said decidedly.

"Peter, you can't decide that. This isn't just a world revolved around you that will do exactly as you say. Not everyone is on your side. You do have enemies and that is the way things work. Bad guys win all the time in my world." Marie told him. She was trying to give him a dose of reality, but he didn't buy it.

"Yeah, in _your_ world that stuff happens, not here. Not in Never Land." Peter said confidently. "We'll find a way to get your…uh…innocence back."

Before the conversation could carry on any further, sounds of many footsteps began thumping around in the other room, as the Boys returned. And they sounded excited. Whittle and Quickie came running in, closely followed by Ethan, Barky, Hoppy, Curly and Nibbs. Slightly appeared in the doorway, as did Tootles, but Tootles turned back to the kitchen, where Violet must have spoken, and Slightly went with him.

"Oh, it's so perfect, Peter, you have to come see it!" Quickie yelled.

"Yeah, we found a great spot for our new hideout!" Whittle agreed.

Peter brightened up a bit and he said, "Really? I can't wait to see it. We'll go after we have lunch and you can show me."


	13. Chapter Twelve part two

**Peter Pan**

**A Different Wendy**

**Chapter Twelve**

Back in the Faerie Woods, the Boys were creeping through the trees to the clearing that was the Faerie Gathering. Peter turned around after checking the place out and finding it deserted and looked to Nibbs to give orders, "Okay, I need to find the Queen, so while you and Tootles check the place out I'll look for her. If any of you see any faeries ask them where the Queen is, got it?"

The three Boys nodded and it was then that Peter noticed who was not with them anymore, "Where are Marie and Violet?"

Tootles, Nibbs and Slightly looked behind them and then back at Peter guiltily. "They must have gone back to the hideout?" Nibbs offered.

Peter took a step towards Slightly and accused, "You should have been watching them! Go back and see if they're alright."

"But why do I…" Slightly began, but was interrupted.

"Go." Peter turned away and went back to searching for the Faerie Queen.

"Tell Marie I left some breakfast on the table for them." Tootles called after Slightly's retreating backside. He raised his arm that he'd heard him though.

Slightly grumbled and complained all the way back to the hideout. Why couldn't Marie just have stayed here in the first place? Peter shouldn't have let her come. She's just a girl. She doesn't even know what danger is. She might as well take her little sister and brother and go back to London. Slightly jumped down the hole and into the hideout, shaking his head as he walked through the kitchen and into the bedroom.

Once his eyes adjusted to the darkness he stopped mid-step. "Marie?" He crept closer to the place where her body lay. She looked dead. She was lying on her side, arms close to her face and her dark curls spilling over her closed eyes. Slightly bent down and shook her, "Marie?" She didn't make a noise and she didn't wake up. He felt her forehead and found it warm with fever. Her skin felt warm but she still had goose bumps, the same symptoms Marie found Violet with before, only Slightly didn't know about that.

He went to the bed to take down and pillow and a blanket so she'd be more comfortable because he didn't know what else do to, and that was when he saw Violet. She was pale and her body was stiff and cold, but she was breathing fine. What was going on? Slightly didn't know what to do with them. He struggled to lift Marie's limp body and put her down on the bed with Violet. He covered them both with the blanket and hoped they would be fine until he got back with the others.

Slightly ran down the path and back to the Faerie Gathering where Peter and Nibbs and Tootles were. They looked startled as he came panting into the clearing.

"What's up, Slight?" Nibbs asked. Peter and Tootles came over to see what the matter was as well.

"There's something wrong with Marie and Violet." Slightly said after catching his breath.

"What do you mean?" Peter demanded.

"I don't know what happened to them, but neither of them will wake up and they aren't moving." Slightly tried to explain as best he could, but he just didn't know how.

"Are they dead?" Tootles looked worried.

"No, no, they're breathing, they just won't wake up," Slightly assured him, "But I didn't know what to do."

"Okay, we have to go back then." Peter said.

"What? But Peter, we have to find out what happened here too." Nibbs reminded him.

Peter glanced around again, "They aren't here, they are just no where to be found. Not a faerie's in sight, so we might as well go back to see how the girls are doing because we aren't getting anything done here."

Nibbs nodded, "Yeah, you're right. Let's go back."

They headed back to the hideout and into the bedroom where Marie and Violet were lying where Slightly left them, but Violet was now awake. She was crying and whispering to Marie, "Please wake up, Marie, please." She looked up when the Boys came in and cried even harder, "I don't know what's wrong with her. She won't wake up. I tried."

"It's okay, Violet, she'll be fine." Tootles sat down next to Violet and let her cry on him.

"What's wrong with her?" She asked them in the squeaky voice of someone who was still trying to contain herself from crying all over again.

"We don't know, but she'll be fine. I promise." Tootles tried to calm her down, but this seemed to make her even more worried.

She worked up a fresh batch of tears and threw herself across Marie, burying her face in her chest as she would any other time. "Please don't die like Momma did. I need you still."

"She's not going to die, Violet." Slightly spoke up. "She has the same thing you just did. See, now she's cold, and before she wasn't. You were cold when I left, and now you're fine, so Marie will be fine too."

Violet stared up at him and dried her face with the blanket. "So she's only sick?"

Slightly looked at Peter to see what he should say. Peter nodded his head. "Yeah, she's only sick. She'll be fine soon. Why don't we just let her rest?"

"Want something to eat? Tootles made some great breakfast you guys missed out on." Nibbs motioned towards the door.

But Violet shook her head, "I wanna be here when she wakes up. You can leave, though."

"Peter, should we go back to the Faerie Gathering? Or meet up with the other Boys? Or just stay here?" Nibbs questioned.

Peter shook his head as if to clear it of other thoughts, "Uh…just go see how the other Boys are doing. Come get me if they found anything."

"What are you going to do?" Tootles asked.

"I'm…tired. I'm going to go back to sleep for a while." Peter pulled his gaze away from Marie's dead-like body and made his way over to his bed, lying down as if to prove to them that he was really going to sleep.

"Let's grab a snack before we go, I'm hungry." Tootles said.

"You're always hungry." Nibbs joked.

"I am not." Tootles protested.

"Are too," Nibbs said laughing.

"Fine, I guess I am." Tootles gave up. "Are you coming?"

"Slight?" Nibbs waved a hand in front of Slightly's face and Slightly nodded and followed them to the kitchen.

Violet snuggled up close to Marie and pushed the curls out of her eyes. She straightened the pillow and blankets and placed her arms on her stomach. "There you go, Marie." She smoothed Marie's curls and lay down beside her. "Wake up soon, please." She fell asleep for a few minutes, but awoke to movement next to her.

Marie was waking up. Violet sat up so fast she got a little dizzy, but she didn't even notice in all her excitement because Marie was better again. "Marie!" She lunged at her and hugged her so tight Marie couldn't breathe for a second. Then, Violet began crying again saying over and over, "I thought you were dead."

"Oh, I'm fine, sweetie. Everything's fine now." Marie rubbed Violet's back and comforted her until the little girl was almost back to normal. In fact, both girls looked perfectly normal, except for the pale skin and blank look in their eyes, but no one noticed that yet.

Marie straightened up and asked Violet, "Where are the others? Have they come back yet?"

Violet shook her curly little head, "Yes. Peter is sleeping, and the others went to find the other Lost Boys."

"Peter is sleeping?" Marie questioned. She stood up and took a few steps towards Peter's bed just to see if he was really there, and once she was satisfied that he was sleeping and no one else was in the room she whirled back around and took Violet by the elbows, "Do you know what happened before? Do you remember anything?"

Violet averted her gaze to the floor and shook her head at first, but then changed her mind and nodded cautiously.

"You have to tell me everything you remember, okay?" Marie ordered.

"Okay," Violet consented. "Well…there was a man in the woods with us before. I didn't tell you because I thought he might just go away. But he didn't. I could hear him talking to me in my head, and I thought you heard too, but you didn't. He told me I was too innocent and he was taking it away. Then I just hurt everywhere and I felt too tired to stay awake any longer. That's when you picked me up, and I don't remember anything else."

Marie made a muffled growl-type noise and clenched her fists. What she had thought all along was really true, and it didn't just happen to her, it had happened to her little sister, whom she was supposed to watch and protect. She couldn't believe she had failed so miserably at being a big sister. She calmed herself down for Violet's sake, but Violet seemed unfazed by her older sister's show. Marie said quietly, "I need to talk to Peter about this. You can go back to sleep or something if you want to."

Violet announced that she was going to get some breakfast and skipped off into the other room. Marie noted that she was acting strangely, but then again, she, herself, wasn't feeling…normal, to say the least. Marie made her way over to Peter's bed and found that he was not sleeping, but writing in a tattered old journal. She cleared her throat so as not to startle him. He looked up and shoved the journal under his pillow. He sat up and said, "You're all right now?"

"Yes," Marie answered. "But I have to warn you, 'all right' isn't as good as it might sound. The rest of you Boys are in danger. The man from the dreams is real, and he's close. He was just here, as a matter of fact. And he didn't leave empty handed…" Marie trailed off for a moment.

"What do you mean? What did he take with him?" Peter's eyes scanned the room to see if anything was out of place or missing.

"No, no, it's not something you can see." Marie explained. "As weird as this is going to sound, I think he took our innocence. Violet's and mine, I mean."

"He took your…innocence?" Peter asked incredulously. Marie nodded and he shook his head, saying, "That can't be true, you can't take away someone's innocence. It isn't even something you can take, is it?"

"That's what I thought before, but he said the same thing to Violet that he said to me. He said 'too innocent' and then he sucked this white mist from me and I can't remember any more. Neither can Violet." Marie was trying to describe what happened to Peter as best she could, but there were huge gaps in her story that she couldn't seem to fill. She just didn't know the answers.

"He sucked white mist? Marie, this is crazy. I don't understand." Peter held up his hands.

Marie got frustrated, "Neither do I, Peter, but you have to do something! All of you Boys are in danger of losing your innocence as well, and if that happens, well…I'm not exactly sure yet what will happen after that, but I'm sure it's nothing good. You have to find out some way to keep him away from the others!"

"Okay, okay, calm down. I'm thinking. I'll try and come up with something." Peter said, and then he sobered up a little more, "What about you two?"

"What about us? He took it away, there's nothing we can really do now that he has it, is there?" Marie snapped.

"That's not true. There has to be a way to get it back somehow. There always is. The bad guy never wins." Peter said decidedly.

"Peter, you can't decide that. This isn't just a world revolved around you that will do exactly as you say. Not everyone is on your side. You do have enemies and that is the way things work. Bad guys win all the time in my world." Marie told him. She was trying to give him a dose of reality, but he didn't buy it.

"Yeah, in _your_ world that stuff happens, not here. Not in Never Land." Peter said confidently. "We'll find a way to get your…uh…innocence back."

Before the conversation could carry on any further, sounds of many footsteps began thumping around in the other room, as the Boys returned. And they sounded excited. Whittle and Quickie came running in, closely followed by Ethan, Barky, Hoppy, Curly and Nibbs. Slightly appeared in the doorway, as did Tootles, but Tootles turned back to the kitchen, where Violet must have spoken, and Slightly went with him.

"Oh, it's so perfect, Peter, you have to come see it!" Quickie yelled.

"Yeah, we found a great spot for our new hideout!" Whittle agreed.

Peter brightened up a bit and he said, "Really? I can't wait to see it. We'll go after we have lunch and you can show me."

Marie had been watching this from Peter's bed, where she had taken a seat during their discussion, but at this note she decided she would go outside for a walk. She wanted to think. Wanted to get away from all of these Boys, and read some more of her mother's journals. She snuck open the box, pulled out one of the journals and clutched it to her chest. She was making her way to the door when Peter called after her.

"Where are you going?"

She stopped and half turned to face him, "I was, uh, just going to get some fresh air."

"Oh, well, don't go too far, we'll be having lunch soon and I don't want you to get lost." Peter warned.

"Honestly. I'm not that stupid. I won't get lost." Marie snapped before she could stop herself, and hurried out the door and into the kitchen. She bit her lip and tried to think of why she would say something to Peter that way. She wasn't mad at him. There was just no reason for it. It must have to do with not having innocence anymore.

She shook her head and looked over to the table where Violet was sitting, an angelic smile pasted on her face, as Slightly tried to hide a guilty stare and Tootles busied himself with preparing lunch. Marie raised an eyebrow at Violet and asked, "What are you telling them now?"

"Nothing." Violet said, wiping the smile off her face. "Where are you going?"

"Um…" Marie tried to hide the diary behind her back while making her way to the door leading outside. "Just for a walk. I'll be back soon."

"Can I come?" Violet asked, rising to her feet.

Marie's brown eyes flashed as she hurriedly tried to think of an excuse her little sister would buy, but Violet saw that Marie didn't want her to come and her own eyes filled with tears before the younger girl took a deep breath and sucked her sadness back in. It was replaced with a look of defiance, "Fine. I'll go for a walk on my own." She picked herself up off the chair she had sunken into and banged out the door.

"Violet!" Marie raised her arms helplessly at Slightly, who was watching the whole dilemma unfold, and ran after Violet; forgetting all about her mom's diary that she dropped.

Once outside, Marie could just make out Violet's baby blue dress making its way through the trees in the distance. "Violet! Slow down!" Marie yelled and pushed her way past the trees after her sister, not knowing where they were going.

She was getting closer when suddenly Violet disappeared. Marie hurried her step even more and stopped at the spot she knew she saw Violet at a moment before. "She was right here." Marie whispered to herself, turning in a circle to examine the woods. The little girl was nowhere to be found. Marie saw a flash of blue out of the corner of her eye and bent to pick up…Violet's ribbon. "Violet!" Marie screamed.

She threw herself to the ground, her body heaving and sobbing, but no tears would come. She didn't understand where Violet could possibly have disappeared to. There was no place to go. It was just woods and more woods until there came the mountains and the water. Marie searched the ground for a hole or a place Violet could be hiding, but she knew there wasn't any, and that Violet would never play so cruel a trick that she would watch Marie worry and cry over her.

Marie finally got up off the ground and made her way back to the tree, her feet dragging and her hands nervously twisting around Violet's blue ribbon. She went down the hole into her new home without even noticing or becoming frightened. She blankly went over to the table where all of the boys were gathered and eating dinner. She sat down but didn't make a move to take any food, only stared at the spot where Violet was supposed to be sitting right now, wishing with all her heart she was okay and not scared.

Peter saw her staring at Violet's empty chair and asked, "Where is she?"

Marie lifted her empty gaze to Peter's face and shook her head before whispering, "I don't know." She then looked around the table to each of the Boys' faces before coming back to the empty chair. She took a deep shuddering breath and then burst into tears.


End file.
